NCALP Honors Individuals and Organizations for Advancing the Adoption Cause

October 28, 2003

The National Center for Adoption Law and Policy at Capital University Law School presented five awards at its Fifth National Symposium, In the Matter of ASFA: Examining the first five years of the Adoption and Safe Families Act. The individuals and organizations from across the country were honored for advancing the adoption cause in meaningful ways.

This year’s honorees included Joe Kroll, Executive Director of the North American Council on Adoptable Children and the Hallmark Channel.

Joe Kroll received the Center’s Maestro award for his extraordinary contributions to systemic improvements in adoption. This award recognizes unwavering dedication, creativity and compassion for children who need safe permanent homes and the families that provide them.

The Center also honored the Hallmark Channel, producer of the weekly television show, Adoption, with its Public Awareness MVP award. The award is given to the nation’s greatest contributor to public understanding about adoption and permanency issues during the past year.

In addition, three institutions received the Adoption MVP award for making special contributions to the improvement of adoption and child welfare systems: Lutheran Community Services Northwest, Seattle, WA; Olmsted County Child and Family Services, Rochester, MN; and The National Resource Center on Foster Care and Permanency Planning, New York, NY.

These awards were presented during the two-day symposium held October 20 and 21. The symposium featured policy and practice track presentations, roundtable discussions, and audience questions. One-on-one debates included Dr. Richard Barth, professor at the University of North Carolina’s school of social work and author of numerous articles and books on child welfare issues; Judge Len Edwards, immediate past president of the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court judges and supervising judge of the Santa Clara, CA, Superior Court; and Dr. Nancy Young, Director of Children and Family Futures, Inc., a coordinating organization of the National Resource Center on Child Welfare and Substance Abuse.