CALIFORNIA—In an effort to celebrate National Adoption Day on Saturday, November 21, Los Angeles County held a virtual ceremony, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, to honor all of those being raised in foster care. National Adoption Day is held every single year on the Saturday before Thanksgiving Day.
In the past, the event would be hosted in Monterey Park at the Edmund D. Edelman Children’s Courthouse, which is located across from the headquarters of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
Thanks to a court-developed program, the virtual ceremony connected 11 judicial officers, who presided in their respective courtrooms, to the 92 adoptive families, who were in their homes.
Of the 149 children being represented, officials from the foster care reported that only 6 percent were over the age of 15, 18 percent were between the ages of 10 and 14, 26 percent were between the ages of 6 and 9, 37 percent between the ages of 3 and 5, while the remaining 13 percent were not above the age of 2. They also have 36 groups of siblings between them.
Four organizations founded National Adoption Day including the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute, Alliance for Children’s Rights and Children’s Action Network. The heads of these groups were the ones, who decided to hold this annual celebration.
Michael Nash, who presided as a judge at the Los Angeles Superior Court’s Juvenile Division, is now director for the Los Angeles County’s Office of Child Protection. He played a part in inspiring the idea behind National Adoption Day.
