Washington state's 2023 National Adoption Day recognition is set for Friday, November 17. The adoption of foster children into new families is celebrated in Washington courts and communities each November, often the week before Thanksgiving. For information on county celebrations, check our list of events, which is updated as new details become available.
Similar celebrations take place across the United States in order to raise awareness of the many foster children who are free to be adopted into new families. Courts and communities recognize that nurturing families play critical roles in the lives of children, providing an important foundation as they grow into adulthood. We wish to express deep appreciation for adoptive parents who bring these children into their lives and create new families.
What is National Adoption Day?
National Adoption Day was founded in 2000 by a coalition of child welfare organizations and businesses working to improve the lives of foster children. The coalition wanted to celebrate adoptive families and also highlight the thousands of foster children across the U.S. waiting for new families. The goal is to spread the word that these children need homes.
Some Washington courts began celebrating individually, and then in 2005, the Washington Supreme Court Commission on Children in Foster Care sponsored the first statewide celebration in courts across Washington. NAD is also sponsored by the Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF), the Superior Court Judges' Association (SCJA), the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC), and many local and regional groups and businesses.
How you can help
Everyone can be part of National Adoption Day, even in 2023. The key goal is raising awareness of foster children in need of new families through adoption. You can share news items of foster adoptions, share photos and messages, help spread the word. Share the links to this web page, and to the Northwest Adoption Exchange page at (where actual foster children available for adoption are featured) and to the DCYF page.
Lewis County adoptive families and Judge James Lawler (far right) celebrate following the adoption of eight former foster children into new families during Lewis County Superior Court's 2012 National Adoption Day celebration on November 16, 2012.
