As of Oct. 15, 2012, there were 7,847 children living in foster care in Washington, with 1,623 of those available for adoption.

 

Jordan, Kamiya, Jebidiah… These are also foster children, but they are no longer waiting. They will be adopted into new families during National Adoption Day celebrations in Washington courts next week. The public and media are invited and welcome to attend the celebrations, most of which are scheduled for Nov. 15 and 16, to talk with adoptive parents, judges, child welfare workers about the world of foster adoptions.  

 

More than 120 foster children will join new families during the state’s eighth annual celebration of foster adoptions. More information is available at http://www.courts.wa.gov/newsinfo/adoptionDay/?fa=adoptionDay.home.

 

Celebrating counties include (see detailed list on Web site):

 

“The day a foster child is adopted into a new family is the day their lives change forever. They gain stability, support and the nurturing they need to move confidently into adulthoood,” said King County Superior Court Judge Dean Lum, Chairman of the Washington State National Adoption Day Steering Committee, who was himself an adopted child. “Adoptive parents are very special. They forever change the lives of these children and the communities where we live.”

 

National Adoption Day was founded by a handful of courts, child welfare agencies and businesses in 2000 to raise awareness of the thousands of foster children awaiting adoption. Washington’s statewide celebration was launched in 2005 by the state Supreme Court Commission on Children in Foster Care and is co-sponsored by the Department of Social and Health Services Children’s Administration, the Superior Court Judges’ Association, and the Administrative Office of the Courts.

 

The statewide celebration is also now sponsored by WARM 106.9’s Teddy Bear Patrol program.

 

Denise Revels Robinson, Assistant Secretary, Childrens’ Administration, Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) said “I am pleased for the opportunity on National Adoption Day to celebrate with the children and families who have found one another through the adoption process. Every child deserves to have loving, caring adults who will be their forever family.

 

“I also want to acknowledge and thank the Childrens’ Administration staff and our partners in the courts,” Revels Robinson said. “It takes many partners and hard work by attorneys, guardians ad litem, CASAs and judges who all have important roles in achieving final adoption for the children.”

 

 

CONTACT: Lorrie Thompson, Administrative Office of the Courts, (360) 705-5347; Carolyn Jones, DSHS, (360) 902-0215;  King County Superior Court Judge Dean Lum, Chair, Washington State National Adoption Day Steering Committee, (206) 296-9295, dean.lum@kingcounty.gov.