Philadelphia National Adoption Month Celebration Raises Awareness for the 125,000 Children Nationwide who are in Foster Care and Waiting to be Adopted.
PHILADELPHIA, PA – On Friday, November 15 at 10:00 a.m. the Philadelphia Department of Human Services and Philadelphia Family Court honors National Adoption Month with a celebration, following the finalization of ten adoptions earlier that morning.
A brief program emceed by Stephania Jimenez, the award-winning anchor/reporter for NBC10 will include remarks from Mayor Jim Kenney, Honorable Margaret T. Murphy, Family Court Administrative Judge, and City of Philadelphia Commissioner Cynthia Figueroa.
National Adoption Month is a collective effort to raise awareness of the more than 100,000 children across the United States who are waiting to be adopted. In Philadelphia, last year 313 teens and young adults aged out of foster care without a permanent home. DHS is actively recruiting homes for older youth so that every child has a home.
City of Philadelphia DHS Commissioner Cynthia Figueroa says, “We work incredibly hard helping families reunify, but when that cannot safely happen, we look towards adoption. Every child, no matter their age deserves a family to call their own. Youth thrive when they feel needed, loved and have the encouragement that a family provides. I want this for every child.”
Family Court Administrative Judge Margaret T. Murphy stated “On National Adoption Day, we celebrate every child’s right to live as a member of a permanent family. Our goal is to minimize the length of time children live in foster care by either safely reuniting them with their families, or by accelerating their adoption. We applaud and thank the loving and nurturing adoptive parents, who make a child’s dream of being a member of a permanent and loving home their new reality.”
Lynne Budnovitch, a mother who finalized the adoption of her son and daughter at last year’s event shared, “I wanted to focus on some of the kids who didn’t immediately pop into people’s minds when on this journey. Those a little older, had been in the system a while, who were starting to get lost in it. Those were the kids I was looking for. Then I found Richard and Allyssa. Or they found me. And they have felt like family from the day they walked thru my door.”
For more information on how to adopt, please email us at DHS.FosteringPhilly@phila.gov.
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About Us
The Philadelphia Department of Human Services is the county child welfare agency. We lead, support, coordinate and implement services to prevent and address child abuse and neglect; and operate juvenile justice programs for Philadelphia.
First Judicial District of PA, Court of Common Pleas, Family Division. The Family Division, sometimes referred to as Family Court, is one of the three major divisions of the Court of Common Pleas. The Family Court of Philadelphia, located at 1501 Arch Street, consists of two major branches: the Juvenile Court and Domestic Relations. The Administrative Judge of the Family Division is the Honorable Margaret T. Murphy, and the Supervising Judge is Walter J. Olszewski.