The DC courthouse sees all walks of city life: the good, the bad and the children who don’t have a safe and stable home.

That might explain why 13 of the roughly 100 DC courts judges are adoptive parents.

"It’s one thing to sit in your robe and make crack legal decisions," Judge Juliet McKenna said. But adopting a child who needs a family is one way to become more directly involved.

McKenna and her husband, lawyer Doug Kendall, originally wanted only to became foster parents when they accepted 15-month-old Miracle into their home.

"We were absolutely in love with her," she said.