Washington Courts: Press Release Detail

National Adoption Day 2015: Washington courts and communities begin second decade highlighting foster children in need of new families

November 16, 2015

 

1,638… The number of foster children right now in Washington state who have lost their birth parents permanently, and could join new families through adoption.
 
150+ … the number of children who will be doing just that this week and next, in open celebrations of National Adoption Day in Washington courts and communities.
 
Washington courts will observe the state’s 11th annual National Adoption Day celebration this week with events being held Nov. 17 – 24 in courts and community halls around the state. The public and media are welcome at these celebrations, where family members share stories and officials share information about foster care and adoption.
 
To find a celebration near you — a statewide list of event days, times and locations — visit http://www.courts.wa.gov/newsinfo/adoptionDay/?fa=adoptionDay.home .
 
“It has been an exciting decade of celebrating National Adoption Day in Washington courts and communities, seeing more than 1,500 children adopted during those events, and the willingness of adoptive parents to share their stories and their happiness with their communities,” said King County Superior Court Judge Dean Lum, chair of the state National Adoption Day Steering Committee. “There is nothing more important in the life of a child, and the adult that he or she will become, than to join a loving and stable family. We look forward to many more years of these amazing celebrations.”
 
Celebrating counties this year include:
 
Whatcom                                Cowlitz                        King                            Skagit
Benton/Franklin                   Snohomish                 Kitsap                         Chelan/Douglas
Grays Harbor                        Lewis                          Spokane                     Thurston
Pierce                                     Island                          Mason                        
Clark                                       Yakima                        Clallam           
 
The statewide National Adoption Day recognition has grown from an original six counties celebrating in 2005 to now 20 counties hosting or joining in events to honor adoption and the crucial difference it makes in the lives of children.
 
The goal of National Adoption Day is to raise awareness of the many hundreds of foster children in Washington state who are waiting to be adopted into new families. Currently, more than 8,600 Washington children live in foster care and more than 1,700 are legally free — meaning their biological parents’ rights have been terminated by the courts — and ready to join new families.
 
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 Administrative Office of the Courts, the Superior Court Judges’ Association, and by WARM 106.9’s Teddy Bear Patrol program.
 
 
CONTACT: King County Superior Court Judge Dean Lum, chair, Washington State National Adoption Day Steering Committee, (206) 296-9295, dean.lum@kingcounty.gov ; Lorrie Thompson, Communications Officer, Administrative Office of the Courts, (360) 705-5347, Lorrie.Thompson@courts.wa.gov. 

Washington Courts Media Contacts:

Wendy K. Ferrell
Judicial Communications Manager
360.705.5331
e-mail Wendy.Ferrell@courts.wa.gov 		Lorrie Thompson
Communications Officer
360.705.5347
Lorrie.Thompson@courts.wa.gov
 

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