Happy stories coming out of the District of Columbia’s Moultrie Courthouse are few and far between. But Saturday, there will be plenty of smiles at the 25th annual Adoption Day, hosted by the DC Superior Court and the city’s Child and Family Services Agency.

Adoptions are usually completed in closed courtrooms. But for one day a year — the Saturday before Thanksgiving — public adoption ceremonies are held all over the country for children leaving the foster care system.

In the DC courthouse, 31 kids will be formally adopted in a public ceremony attended by these new families, their friends and relatives, plus families from Adoption Days past, who come back each year to celebrate. The children will be introduced to the audience with their adoptive families as a judge signs their adoption orders. The boys and girls being adopted on Saturday range in age from less than one to 20 years old.