PORT TOWNSEND — Jefferson County Superior Court will commemorate National Adoption Day with a special adoption ceremony for a foster child today.
The ceremony, which will be open to the public, will be at 1 p.m. in the Superior Court courtroom on the third floor of the Jefferson County Courthouse, 1820 Jefferson St., Port Townsend.
Judge Craddock Verser will preside over the hearing and the commemoration of National Adoption Day with some remarks about foster adoptions and a gift for the adoptive child.
The ceremony — which will be co-sponsored by the Jefferson County office of the state Department of Social and Health Services Children’s Administration — will mark the first time that Jefferson County has participated in the annual event.
More than 100 courts across the state are expected to recognize National Adoption Day.
National Adoption Day was founded in 2000 by a coalition of national child welfare organizations to raise awareness of the thousands of foster children available for adoption and awaiting permanent families.
Washington courts began celebrating statewide in 2005, and since that time, more than 750 children have been adopted during National Adoption Day events.
As of Aug. 1, some 9,114 children were living in foster care and in relative placement homes statewide, DSHS said, adding that 1,533 children were adopted from foster care this year through the state agency.
As of October, 1,323 children in state foster care had legally lost their parents — meaning parental rights had been terminated by the courts or relinquished by parents — and were waiting to be adopted.
The median stay in foster care for Washington state children has declined to less than two years, DSHS said. Nationwide, the median stay in foster care is more than three years.
For more information, visit www.dshs.wa.gov.
