As National Adoption Day enters its eighth year of statewide celebration in Washington, and its 13th year of celebration nationwide, courts and adoption workers from 20 Washington counties will host adopting families as they welcome new members and remove more children from the foster care rolls.


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 Dept. of Social and Health Services' Children's Administration, the Superior Court Judges' Association, the Administrative Office of the Courts, and many local and regional groups and businesses.


Everyone can be a part of National Adoption Day. Judges and court workers are needed to help plan and host events. Local officials and celebrities can volunteer to attend or help plan. Social service and adoption workers can help plan local celebrations and encourage foster and adoptive families to take part.

Members of the public can attend the events, write letters to the newspapers, and spread the word to friends and co-workers that foster children are looking for new homes.

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