Sedgwick County Government‘s Board of County Commissioners proclaimed Nov. 2024 as National Adoption Month as well as Nov. 23rd as National Adoption Day.
Chairman Ryan Baty read the Proclamation, sharing the following: “Sedgwick County believes, along with the nation, that foster children deserve safe, permanent, and loving families through adoption if they cannot safely return home.”
We appreciate Sedgwick County Board of County Commissioners for recognizing this important cause and helping to spread awareness about adoption within our community.
The National Adoption Day Event will occur on Saturday, November 23rd, 2024, at Exploration Place in Wichita, Kan. This private event will celebrate the journey of twenty-nine children as they take a monumental step toward permanency through adoption.
Proceedings will be led by Judge Richard Macias and Judge Michael Hoelscher, along with attorneys Ann T. Rider, Amanda Marino, and Megan Monsour. The event will feature food, refreshments, games, and activities for families to enjoy, and a professional photographer will commemorate the occasion with the first official family photo. Guest speakers, including Miss Pre-teen Kansas Ava Johnson and representatives from the adoption services team, will address the importance of adoption and the vital role of community support in ensuring that every child grows up in a safe, loving home.
National Adoption Day is a significant annual event that raises awareness of the need for permanent families for children in foster care. EmberHope Connections is dedicated to facilitating timely adoptions when reintegration is not a viable option and works closely with the Department for Children and Families (DCF) to ensure successful permanency for the children and families we serve.
Shannon Wilson, Adoption Supervisor for EmberHope Connections, shared her thoughts on the event. “It’s a special day that the children and families never forget, and we want to make this moment truly impactful for them. This significant day is not only a day of permanency but also an opportunity to raise awareness for adoption in the community.”
“National Adoption Day might be just another day to most people, but 2 years ago, we met the lawyer that would change our life at an event just like this,” recalled Britt English, Associate Director of Marketing for EmberHope. “Our adoption day was in April 2023; not only did it change our daughter’s life, it changed ours and those of our extended family and friends as well. It’s an incredibly moving full-circle experience to be able share in the joy of a day like this knowing that we have been on the other side of it as well, anxiously waiting for our turn in the courtroom.”
EmberHope Connections Adoption Services is a centralized resource that supports the adoption process from recruitment to approval, ensuring that children in foster care find permanent, loving homes when reunification with their birth families is not possible.
For more information, visit our EmberHope Connections page.
