Golden Transcript 1204

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December 4, 2014 VOLU M E 1 4 8 | I S S UE 52 | 5 0 ¢

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Jeffco kids find forever homes Families recognized for National Adoption Day By Amy Woodward

awoodward@colorado communitymedia.com The holidays are a time for bringing families together. And for 22 families in Jeffco, they celebrated the seasonal reunion early during National Adoption Day through Jefferson County Human Services. Twenty-nine children found permanent homes with their longtime committed foster parents on Saturday, Nov. 22. “Today we don’t make families, we recognize families,” said Justice Brian Boatright of the Colorado Supreme Court. “Adoption isn’t an event, adoption is a promise that is acted out over a lifetime.” National Adoption Day started in 2000 when hundreds of children were adopted on a single day which brought awareness to children in need in foster care. Since that time, National Adoption Day has had more than 40,000 children who have been adopted on this special day. Chris and Trivinia Barber who have two biological children and one adoptive child; Miranda, 4 were present on Saturday to adopt Miranda’s sister, Elyse who is 22 months old. “She (Elyse) has a great story in that ad-

THE 10 B’S OF ADOPTION Be OK with all the emotions of today It’s OK to be happy and sad Be Together Be a family that celebrates adoption Be a parent with a sense of humor Be loving Be like Elsa from Frozen and let it go Be thankful Be proud Be brave as an adoptive parent — The Mink family dition to Miranda who she is placed with, she has three other siblings that are places in two other adoptive homes,” Trivinia Barber said. “Both of those families are really open to relationship so she gets to see all of her siblings and just really have a life-long relationship with them. It’s really important to us.” The Barbers were influenced to adopt through their church which spotlighted the need for adoption of local children. “I really wasn’t aware of how much need there really was for foster and adoptive kids just locally,” Chris Barber said. The Barber’s church introduced the couple to Project 1.27, a local Christian foster care and adoption services program that helps to train and support foster and adoptive parents. The program has been connecting foster children with families

Noel Mink talks about what its like being an adoptive family with her husband Chris; not pictured and their two children; Lexi, 6, and Jerimiah, 9, at the Jefferson County Courthouse on National Adoption Day, on Saturday, Nov. 22. Photo by Amy Woodward for nearly 10 years after it was reported in Dec. 2004 that 875 children were legally available for adoption in the Colorado foster care system. Christopher and Noel Mink, along with their children; Lexi, 6, and Jerimiah, 9, spoke about their experiences as being an adoptive family to a large crowd of eager parents and children before their official courtroom appearance. The Mink’s created the 10 B’s of Adop-

tion to help adoptive families through the positive and often trying times of making a family whole. “Jerimiah wrote No. 8, he said it’s OK to be happy and to be sad,” Noel Mink said. “He said being in a foster home is lonely but being adopted gives you people to play with. You might feel sad for other kids still in the foster home but you can be happy that you were adopted.” “Yes, that is true.” Jerimiah said.

THANKSGIVING DINNER DRIVE-THRU POSTAL ADDRESS

GOLDEN TRANSCRIPT (ISSN 0746-6382)

OFFICE: 722 Washington Ave, Unit 210 Golden, CO 80401 PHONE: 303-566-4100 A legal newspaper of general circulation in Jefferson County, Colorado, the Golden Transcript is published weekly on Thursday by Mile High Newspapers, 722 Washington Ave, Unit 210, Golden, CO 80401. PERIODICALS POSTAGE PAID AT GOLDEN, COLORADO and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address change to: 722 Washington Ave, Unit 210 Golden, CO 80401 DEADLINES: Display: Fri. 11 a.m. Legal: Fri. 11 a.m. | Classified: Mon. 5 p.m. GE T SOCIAL WITH US

P L EA SE R ECYC L E T H I S C OPY

Pete Regalado, left, and Kevin Gile, right, help to distribute 3,000 Thanksgiving food boxes and turkey’s to families in need during the annual Thanksgiving Meal Box distribution through the The Action Center in Lakewood on Sunday, Nov. 23. Photo by Amy Woodward

DNA lab ups testing standards By Amy Woodward

awoodward@colorado communitymedia.com Jeffco’s newest DNA regional crime lab is one of two labs in Colorado to receive advanced DNA testing kits for genetic analysis. The new DNA kits, developed by GlobalFiler, are becoming the new standard of testing for not just the state but the world, said Gentry Roth, lab supervisor. “There’s not a whole lot of overlap, it’s kind of been sectioned out for the globe of what those particular communities like,” Roth said. “Now they are coming together and combining everybody’s kits so now there should be a much more international level of communication.” The lab and another in Colorado Springs are the first two DNA labs in the state to start using the more accurate testing kits. The new kits allow analysis in 21 gene location sites within a DNA sample. Previously, DNA testing was conducted in only 13

locations. “It’s basically an address,” explained Beth Hewitt, DNA technical leader on the study of gene locations sites. “We’re looking at these different locations and everybody is going to have different addresses at these locations. And it’s a combination of those that give us our unique DNA profiles.” Focusing on more locations means getting more discriminating matches. “Instead of one in eight quadrillion, we’re going to get one in eight septillion,” Hewitt said of the statistics given through testing. Equipment in the lab used for extraction and genetic testing cost $750,000 but the pay-off is in the results with processing times significantly reduced. Testing location sites can be done in 60 minutes and staff is predicting DNA results in less than 60 days. For some tests, such as identifying male-specific DNA out of a sample, the lab will still rely on the Colorado Bureau of Investigations

The genetic analyzer seen here helps to produce the DNA profile after DNA quantitation and amplification testing has already occurred. Photo by Amy Woodward for some analysis. But in general, testing will prove to be more efficient in Jeffco. “We’re going to focus on having really good open communication with the agencies that we’re serving, so again everybody is on the same page,” Roth said. “Hope-

fully we’ll really be able to limit the amount of rush cases coming in due to judicial deadlines because we’ll have that open communication and we should be well aware of any deadlines and meet those in advance.”


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