NCALP Celebrates National Adoption Day Nov. 16

November 16, 2005

During November, National Adoption Month, courts across the country will finalize the adoptions of more than 3,100 children from foster care during local Adoption Day events and celebrate adoptive families who are living the dream of hope, one family at a time.

In Columbus, Franklin County Probate Judge Lawrence Belskis and his staff of magistrates will open their courtrooms on November 16 to finalize adoptions for 14 children and 11 families.

National Adoption Day (celebrated by most courts this year on November 19) is a collective national effort to raise awareness about the 129,000 children in foster care who are waiting for permanent, loving homes. There are approximately 542,000 foster care children in the United States. Since 1987, the number of children in foster care has nearly doubled, and the average time a child remains in foster care has lengthened to nearly three years, with approximately 20,000 children in foster care aging out of the system each year without ever being placed with a permanent family. National Adoption Day events across the country celebrate the hundreds of adoptive families who make a difference by making a lifetime commitment to kids in foster care.

Ironically, here in Columbus -- headquarters of the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, a primary sponsor of National Adoption Day -- adoption takes second place to football. Because the national date always coincides with the OSU/Michigan game, Adoption Day has, for the past three years, been celebrated in Franklin County on the preceding Wednesday. “We simply can’t compete with football fever for local media coverage,” says Kent Markus, Director of the National Center for Adoption Law and Policy at Capital University Law School (NCALP). “We moved the event so that the kids, families, courts and volunteers get the public recognition they deserve and so that fans who might otherwise miss the event can participate.”

For the second time this year, NCALP joined with Franklin County Children Services in recruiting and coordinating training for a number of volunteer attorneys to represent the families in the adoption proceedings. Following the adoption ceremonies, the new families will celebrate at a reception hosted by NCALP, the Franklin County Probate Court and Franklin County Children Services.

Additional Adoption Facts:

Four in 10 American adults – 80 million in all -- have considered adoption, according to the National Adoption Attitudes Survey funded by the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption. If only one out of 500 Americans who have considered adoption adopted out of the foster care system, all children in foster care who are available for adoption would have families.
National Adoption Day events are sponsored nationwide by a coalition dedicated to improving the lives of children, including The Alliance for Children’s Rights, Casey Family Services, Children’s Action Network, The Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute, Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, Freddie Mac Foundation and Target Corporation.
Since its inception in 2000, National Adoption Day has grown from events in eight jurisdictions to now include events in all 50 states throughout the country.
Adopting children from foster care is virtually free. In addition, a growing number of companies and government agencies offer adoption assistance as part of their employee benefit packages, including time off for maternity/paternity leave, financial incentives, and other benefits and Congress has made federal tax credits available for foster care adoptions to help offset required fees, court costs, legal and travel expenses.

For more information on adopting children from foster care locally, call Franklin County Children Services at 614.341.6060 or visit the website at http://www.co.franklin.oh.us/Children_Services.

NCALP Celebrates National Adoption Day Nov. 16

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