National Adoption Day

National Adoption Day is a collective national effort to raise awareness about the 114,000 children in foster care waiting to find permanent, loving families. For the last eight years, National Adoption Day has made the dreams of thousands of children come true by working with courts, judges, attorneys, adoption professionals, child welfare agencies and advocates to finalize adoptions and find permanent, loving homes for children in foster care.

National Adoption Day is celebrated every year on the Saturday before Thanksgiving. For the first time in 2006, National Adoption Day was celebrated in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. In total, more than 250 events were held throughout the country to finalize the adoptions of more than 3,300 children in foster care and to celebrate all families who adopt.

National Adoption Day 2007 Goals

• Finalize adoptions from foster care in all 50 states.
• Celebrate and honor all families who adopt.
• Raise awareness about the 114,000 children in foster care waiting for adoption.
• Encourage others to adopt children from foster care .
• Build collaboration among local adoption agencies, courts, and advocacy organizations.
• Promoting adoption in a unique way.

There will be an Adoption Celebration for the Roanoke area to be held in Salem, Virginia on Saturday, November 17th from 10:30am to 1pm at a local middle school. The celebration is by invitation only, primarily for families who have adopted through local Departments of Social Services. The celebration begins at the courthouse with adoption finalizations. After the finalizations, many activities are planned for adoptive families including games, face painting, information tables on adoption and local services for families, and family photos. The official celebration ends after lunch is served and the day is declared National Adoption Day. This year families will also have the opportunity to view a 30 minute video that was directed by Carol Burch-Brown from Virginia Tech and produced by DePaul Family Services’ Adoption Program Director, Janet Barr. This video titled, “Waiting Children: Adopting from the foster care system” was regionally produced and gives children and their families the opportunity to talk about their adoption experiences.

The Adoption Celebration in the New River Valley is by invitation only. It will be November 17th from 10 to 12noon. We will celebrate at Adventure World Family Fun Center. There will be skating, moon bouncers, laser tag, and a photographer will be there to take winter photos of the families. Judges and CASA workers have also been invited to attend.