Visiting dignitaries and numerous families filled the atrium of the H.

At home, in the minivan, at the dinner table, Damien Harris was badgering Marseeda Reed for something he badly wanted before his 18th birthday. It wasn't an ordinary teenage desire, like a new phone, an iPod or a car, even.

For 34 newly adopted children, the prospect of unconditional love was born in a courthouse yesterday.