Justice Davis to host National Adoption Month event

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – West Virginia Supreme Court Justice Robin Jean Davis will hold a press conference at 10 a.m. Friday, November 14, in the Supreme Court Chamber to commemorate National Adoption Month. She will be joined by Joan Ohl, Commissioner of the Administration for Children, Youth and Families in the Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Nicholas County Circuit Judge Gary L. Johnson, Chairman of the West Virginia Court Improvement Program, and adoptive parents Sallie Harrington and Bobby Jean (B.J.) Miller also will speak.

The goal of the National Adoption Month Campaign is to spread awareness about adoption and to recruit and retain foster and adoptive parents. Since 1990, the nation has proclaimed November as National Adoption Month to focus attention on children in the child welfare system waiting for placement with families. Nationally, there are approximately 513,000 children currently in foster care, 114,000 of whom are waiting for permanent families. Of the children in need of adoption in the United States, 36 percent are African-American and 45 percent are over the age of eight.

There were approximately 4,500 children in foster care in West Virginia at the end of 2007. In 2007, 473 children were adopted through the West Virginia Bureau for Children and Families, an increase from 419 children in 2006. The total number of adoptions in West Virginia in 2007 was 913.

While the majority of children in foster care are reunified with their families, adopted, or placed in other permanent homes, some children are not so fortunate. West Virginia has 66 children waiting to be adopted through the Bureau for Children and Families. For information on adopting a child, visit www.adoptawvchild.org.

For more information about the National Adoption Month 2008 Campaign visit www.AdoptUsKids.org.

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