On November 3 in Santa Barbara, the County Board of Supervisors will pass a resolution highlighting the need for families to adopt children from foster care, and honoring families that do so—and the many individuals and organizations that support them along the way. A local family which has adopted one child from foster care, and is in the process of adopting another, will address the Board.
On November 18, Adoption Day will take place at Santa Maria Juvenile Court. The Court will finalize the adoption of at least seven local foster children into stable, permanent, loving homes, just in time for Thanksgiving. Festivities will follow, with food, children’s activities, gifts, and free portraits for the new forever families. (The actual adoption proceedings are closed events.) Communities across the United States hold similar Adoption Day events in November to help create and celebrate new families for foster children. (National Adoption Day is officially the Saturday before Thanksgiving, but ours is one of the many communities that schedule the event on a weekday instead.)
“Children enter foster care through no fault of their own, as a result of abuse, neglect, or abandonment,” explained Devin Drake, the deputy director overseeing Child Welfare Services (CWS) for the Santa Barbara County Department of Social Services (DSS). CWS works with the family and the courts to establish a safe environment in the home of origin, but if this proves impossible, then a new permanent home must be sought. “Adoption is the highest level of permanence,” he said, “offering love, nurturing and guidance through childhood and beyond.”
For more information on Child Welfare Services, foster care or adoption, please visit www.AdoptSBC.com, or call the Department of Social Services at 1-866-899-2649.
