Honoring Those Who Help Children Find ‘Forever Families’

Children’s Bureau Associate Commissioner JooYeun Chang presented an award to Karen and Adam Owens, who adopted three medically fragile children. The Owens family does not see any limitations for their children. With the help of nurses, therapy and school classroom adjustments, the couple has helped their children overcome obstacles.By Jesus Garcia, Special Assistant, Administration for Children and Families

It was a cold day in Washington, D.C., but for some special families and individuals visiting the nation’s capital on Tuesday, the freezing weather was no match for the warm hearts and smiles welcoming them to the Health and Human Services’ National Adoption Month Celebration.

These invited guests were in town to be recognized by the Children’s Bureau's annual Adoption Excellence Awards, which spotlight those who contribute greatly to moving children from foster care to adoption or other permanent homes.

The ceremony held in HHS’s Great Hall kicked off with a special message from HHS Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell. Being a parent who has adopted, the Secretary holds this issue near and dear to heart. “Every day is a gift, a joy and a blessing,” said Burwell, about life with her adopted son. She congratulated the award winners for being able to connect children to forever families.

Nichelle Poe and Vania Smith from the Washington D.C. and Federal City Alumnae Chapters of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. pose with their award.In the category of “Family Contributions,” awards went to:

• The Owens Family of Pennsylvania. With the support of their birth daughter, Karen and Adam Owens have adopted three medically fragile children. The Owens do not see any limitations for their children. With the help of nurses, therapy and school classroom adjustments, the couple has helped their children overcome many obstacles. 
• The Scheele Family of New York. When sibling groups who have high levels of need require a family to foster, John and Karen Scheele is the family their local agency turns to foster. Children always thrive physically, mentally, emotionally and academically in their care. In addition to their three biological children, the Scheeles have adopted six children they have fostered.

In the category of “Individuals and Professionals,” awards went to:

• Judge Anne Simon of Louisiana. For more than 30 years, the judge has served children in the child welfare system as a juvenile judge and advocate. Her efforts have been instrumental in achieving improved permanency outcomes for children.
• Jennifer Roberts of Virginia. Roberts serves as an adoption social services specialist at the Fairfax County Foster Care and Adoption Program in the Department of Family Services.  Her efforts have contributed to a significant increase in the adoption of older youth in foster care. Over the past year, almost half of the adoptions finalized in Fairfax County were older youth; Roberts finalized 14 of them.
• Yolanda Demont of Florida. As an adoptions supervisor with Children’s Home Society of Florida, Demont has become well-known and respected in her community for the strong agency and community collaborations she has formed in an effort to achieve permanency for youth in foster care. In the last seven years, Demont has finalized more than 650 adoptions.
• Dawn Scott of Arkansas. Scott produces and anchors KTHV-TV Channel 11’s award-winning program, “A Place to Call Home,” which features Arkansas children who are available for adoption. Over 55 percent of the children featured on the program have found forever families.

Associate Commissioner of the Children’s Bureau JooYeun Chang congratulates award winner Richard Pais, executive director of Wilkes-Barre Racing of Pennsylvania, and his son Drew.In the category of “Business Contributions and Initiatives,” awards went to:

• Wilkes-Barre Racing of Pennsylvania. After completing his first Ironman triathlon, Wilkes-Barre Racing Executive Director Rich Pais, an adoptive parent, decided to make his participation in athletic events about a greater cause. For his next race, Pais partnered with the local Wendy’s franchise to raise more than $40,000 for the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption during their first “Ironman for Adoption” campaign. Wilkes-Barre Racing has since continued to organize, promote and conduct athletic activities for the purpose of raising money and awareness for foster care and adoption. 
• The Washington DC and Federal City Alumnae Chapters of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.  In 2010, as part of a global day of service, the Washington DC and Federal City Alumnae Chapters of Delta Sigma Theta partnered with community organizations to host the first annual Foster Care and Adoption Expo in the District. The goal was to raise awareness about local children in foster care and recruit prospective foster and adoptive families. The one day initiative has since grown into a yearlong series of community service events. 

In the category of “Media/Social Media/Public Awareness,” awards went to:

• Children’s Action Network, the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption and Triage Entertainment for A Home for the Holidays. There is a good chance that you have seen A Home for the Holidays, which is a nationally recognized primetime TV program that raises awareness about adoption from foster care and encourages potential adoptive parents to get more information. Since the partnership started 15 years ago between CBS, Children’s Action Network, the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, Triage Entertainment and The Wendy’s Company, A Home for the Holidays has highlighted more than 60 foster adoptive families, focusing on sibling groups, single parents, and families of diversity. Ninety percent of the children featured in the program have been placed in permanent homes.
• Pennsylvania Statewide Adoption and Permanency Network. In 2013, SWAN launched a new media campaign to recruit foster and adoptive families called #MeetTheKids. The new campaign featured 12 Pennsylvania youth, ages 13-20, who were in foster care and used iPods to film each other while discussing foster care and their wishes for a permanent family.  As a result of SWAN’s campaign, Pennsylvania has seen a significant increase in inquiries about adoption. Six of the 12 featured youth have been matched with potential families. 
• Fostering Families Today. Fostering Families Today is a bi-monthly magazine dedicated to providing education and resources to foster and adoptive families. One of the publication’s newest features is an expansion of its practice of publishing child specific recruitment photos with biographies to include a removable full color Waiting Child insert in every edition. The digital edition includes video interviews of the waiting children.

In the category of “Child Welfare/Judicial Systemic Change,” awards went to:

• Mission West Virginia, FrameWorks. FrameWorks is designed to find families for children waiting in foster care and to help those families navigate the adoption certification process from initial inquiry to placement. Their work has significantly increased the number of families who complete certification. Another of its successful initiatives was a luggage drive with community members to eliminate garbage bags as luggage for children in foster care. Through the program, youth in care have received over 2,500 pieces of luggage and personal hygiene items.
• Merced County Human Services Agency, Social Services Branch. Merced County is one of the poorest counties in California. The percentage of children in foster care is higher than the state average. Collaborating with 15 other local agencies in this effort, the partners conducted an in-depth county self-assessment and identified strategies to reinvent its adoptions practice. As a result they dramatically improved their child adoption outcomes in three years, reducing the time to adoption from 31 to 18.8 months, and increasing the percentage of adoptions within 24 months from 26.5 to 63.8 percent.

More than 200 guests attended the event. We were moved by the heartfelt stories, especially the reactions from children brought up with families on stage to receive the awards.

The Children’s Bureau also shared some great news on its collaborations to connect children to families through innovative programs.

• AdoptUsKids.org is an amazing portal that serves as a national photo listing of children in need of homes. Since its inception in 2004, more than 35,000 families have registered to become families and nearly 23,000 kids have been permanently placed with families.
• Another successful collaboration celebrating 10 years is the Children’s Bureau’s National Adoption Recruitment Campaign provided by the Ad Council. This public service announcement campaign has received more than $411 million dollars in donated media since its launch in 2004. The campaign efforts have helped the U.S. foster care population dramatically reduce in size (FY 2004 counted 517,000 children in foster care system. Last fiscal year there were only 402,378 children).

The ceremony ended with a screening of new PSAs from the Ad Council (created pro bono by advertising agency Kirshenbaum Bond Senecal + Partners (kbs+), and Hinge Digital). The long running “You Don’t Have to be Perfect to be a Perfect Parent” campaign now has spots in English and Spanish that encourage the adoption of children from foster care with an emphasis on the importance of keeping siblings together.

Great things are happening at HHS to help our nation’s children live better lives. For those inspired by these individuals, learn how to foster and adopt today.

Sibling groups were the focus at this year's award ceremony.