Yuma, Arizona - Seventeen families will become official on Saturday, November 20 when National Adoption Day is celebrated at Yuma County Juvenile Justice Center.
Those seventeen families will enjoy a celebration including refreshments, an adoption book, a blanket and stuffed animal as well as character animals, a firetruck to climb on, and fingerprinting by the Yuma County Sheriff’s Department.
The annual event, held in courtrooms across the nation, celebrates the joy that comes from welcoming a child into your home and life through foster care and adoption. It’s also a chance to dispel the myths surrounding foster care. Prospective parents don’t need to be rich, married, or own their own home to foster or adopt. Thousands of children in Arizona are waiting to be adopted.
Although adoption day celebrations were cancelled in 2020 due to COVID, 32 children were adopted throughout Yuma County during the year and 20 so far in 2021. In fiscal year 2021 in Arizona, nearly 2,500 children have been adopted and officially moved out of the foster care system according to the September 2021 Department of Child Safety Monthly Operational Report.
“It is always a thrill seeing these children getting officially adopted,” said Veronica L. Davis for CASA of Yuma County. “For most, it has been a long road but the wait is worth the outcome. Every child deserves a safe, permanent place to call home.”
As a child navigates the child welfare system, many adults come in and out of their life. Children often move between placements throughout their time in foster care, which may lead to multiple kinship placements, foster parents, group home staff, teachers, therapists, etc. A CASA volunteer stays with a child throughout the length of the case, serving as the consistent adult in their life. CASA of Yuma County is proud to participate in the National Adoption Day celebration.
To date, more than 75,000 children in foster care throughout the nation had their dreams come true with a forever family as part of National Adoption Day events.
To learn more about becoming a CASA volunteer in Yuma County, call us at 928-314-1830, or visit their Facebook page or visit the CASA of Yuma County website.