Family Reunification Website

Los Angeles County Creates Website to Celebrate Family Reunification CLICK HERE for more details.

The web site provides information on Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) programs that help facilitate family reunification, including highlighting information on  court, non-profit, and community partners. The web site also has a list of scheduled  events at DCFS regional offices during Family Reunification Week.

National Adoption Day

National Adoption Day 2011 will be held on Saturday, November 19.   National Adoption Day is a collective national effort to raise awareness of the more than 107,000 children in foster care waiting to find permanent, loving families.  This one day has made the dreams of thousands of children and youth come true by bringing together courts, judges, lawyers, social workers, adoption advocates, and policymakers to finalize adoptions and work to find permanent, loving homes for children in foster care.

On November 18, 2000, the first National Adoption Day was observed and included nine participating cities: Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Washington, DC, Dallas, Fort Worth, El Paso, Omaha, and Columbus.  Since 2000, the goal of National Adoption Day has been that every community in the U.S. will have an annual, self-driven celebration of National Adoption Day on or near the Saturday before Thanksgiving.  By 2010, over 375 communities in all 50 states have participated and over 35,000 children have been adopted from foster care as part of National Adoption Day celebrations.  Each year, the President has issued a Proclamation, along with all 50 governors and numerous mayors declaring National Adoption Day.  The U.S. Congress has passed Resolutions in support of this cause, as well as legislatures and other governing bodies across the country.  

A coalition of national partners – The Alliance for Children’s Rights, Children’s Action Network, Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute, Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, and Freddie Mac Foundation – sponsor National Adoption Day to draw special attention to foster children waiting for permanent families and to celebrate all loving families that adopt.  National Adoption Day events are organized locally in each community by the court, child welfare agency and private agencies and other community partners such as CASA and bar associations.  This year the National Adoption Day Coalition expects over 4,000 foster children to be adopted during National Adoption Day ceremonies on or near November 19, 2011.

The goals of National Adoption Day are to:
o Finalize adoptions from foster care in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and Guam
o Celebrate and honor all families who adopt
o Raise awareness about the 107,000 children in foster care waiting for adoption
o Encourage others to adopt children from foster care
o Build collaboration among local child welfare and adoption agencies, courts and advocacy organizations

For more information, visit the National Adoption Day Web site at www.nationaladoptionday.org.  On the Website, all the tools and resources you need to plan a National Adoption Day event in your court and community are available.  In addition, you can register your National Adoption Day event at www.nationaladoptionday.org/get-involved and be a part of a national movement to celebrate adoption from foster care and raise awareness about the 107,000 children waiting for adoption.

For more information and to register your event CLICK HERE  

National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges recently released a report titled, Right from the Start: The Courts Catalyzing Change Preliminary Protective Hearing Benchcard Study Report -- Testing a Tool for Judicial Decision-Making. The report details positive qualitative and quantitative results when using the guidelines outlined in the Benchcard. Development of this Benchcard grew out of a national initiative, Courts Catalyzing Change: Achieving Equity and Fairness in Foster Care (CCC). This report shows that children who are removed from their parents for abuse or neglect allegations experience better outcomes when judges follow a set of decision-making guidelines during the initial removal hearing.