National Adoption Day Highlights Continued Need for Loving Families for Children in Louisiana - Press Release

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National Adoption Day Highlights Continued Need for Loving Families for Children in Louisiana 
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<p style="text-align:center;"><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/press_room/press_releases/pressroompicgrid.css" /></p><p style="text-align:center;">&nbsp;</p><div align="left" style="text-align:center;"><table style="background-color:#428bca;border-color:X357ebd;width:100%;"><tbody><tr valign="top"><td bgcolor="#428bca" height="21" valign="middle" width="100%"><div align="center"><strong><span style="color:#ffffff;">2020 Press Releases </span></strong></div></td></tr></tbody></table><table width="16%"><tbody><tr></tr></tbody></table></div><table style="text-align:center;"><tbody><tr valign="top"><td width="82" style="text-align:left;">CONTACT:&nbsp;</td><td width="253" style="text-align:left;">Trina S. Vincent<br />504-310-2590</td></tr></tbody></table><div align="left" style="text-align:center;"><table style="background-color:#F7EBC6;border-collapse:separate;border-spacing:3px;width:100%;"><tbody style=""><tr valign="top"><td style="text-align:left;" width="38%"><span style="color:#212073;text-transform:uppercase;"><strong>November 20, 2020</strong></span></td><td width="62%"><p align="right" style="margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0;"><span style="color:#212073;"><strong>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE</strong></span></p></td></tr></tbody></table></div><p style="text-align:center;"><strong><span style="text-decoration:underline;"></span></strong> <span style="text-decoration:underline;"><strong></strong></span><strong></strong><strong></strong><br /></p><p style="text-align:center;"><strong>NATIONAL ADOPTION DAY HIGHLIGHTS CONTINUED NEED FOR LOVING FAMILIES FOR CHILDREN IN LOUISIANA</strong><strong></strong></p><p style="text-align:left;">New Orleans, LA &minus; In honor of <strong>National Adoption Day, Saturday, November 21, 2020 at 1:00pm</strong> Orleans Parish Juvenile Court will finalize two adoptions and celebrate all adoptions finalized since last year&rsquo;s Adoption Day. Judges, lawyers, adoption professionals, child advocates, and community volunteers will participate in this virtual event, marking the 21st National Adoption Day event by Orleans Parish Juvenile Court, held each year in November which is National Adoption Month. The theme of this event is <strong>Adoption Wins over COVID-19</strong>.</p><p>&ldquo;It is imperative that we bring exposure to the need to adopt children who are in foster care and who do not have permanent homes by informing the public that the need remains even during the COVID-19 pandemic,&rdquo; said Chief Justice Bernette Joshua Johnson. &ldquo;For those children waiting on a forever home and loving family, even in these times and perhaps especially in these times, there is still a need.&rdquo;</p><p>The purpose of video conferencing the event is to call attention to the continued need for children to be fostered and adopted by nurturing parents in positive environments. &ldquo;The adoption process has changed only in the fact that we are now holding adoption hearings remotely because of COVID-19; courts have generally restricted in-person hearings. However, there was a desire to make sure that adoptions were held and that the children could become a permanent member of a loving family as soon as possible,&rdquo; said Orleans Parish Juvenile Judge Ernestine Gray who spearheads the event in Orleans Parish. There are 3,527 children and youth in foster care in the State of Louisiana, with 254 of them in the Greater New Orleans area. Of the 3,527, 315 are freed for adoption with 110 of them needing an identified adoptive resource.</p><p>In Jefferson Parish Juvenile Court, adoptions have continued since COVID-19 guidelines were first implemented, with the setting changing to &ldquo;virtual&rdquo; adoptions initially, back to in-person adoptions, albeit with limited family members present.</p><p>&ldquo;Foster care is already a stressful time in the lives of children, the uncertainty of where they will live permanently, if they will ever be reunified or have an adoptive family is already stressful, now that there is COVID, there is even more stress for all kids in general,&rdquo; said Jefferson Parish Juvenile Court Judicial Administrator Dawn Palermo. &ldquo;Children&rsquo;s routines have changed, their socialization, all of their daily lives are now different. For children in foster care, this stress is heightened. People should consider adoption for the simple fact that there are many children still waiting for a forever family home. Their need for a safe and permanent home does not stop because of COVID-19. Now more than ever our children in foster care need stability, need comfort, need love.&rdquo;</p><p>Historically, on the Saturday before Thanksgiving each year (National Adoption Day), courts throughout the United States open their doors to finalize adoptions of hundreds of children in foster care and celebrate all families that adopt.</p><p><strong>Click on the Zoom link below to join the Orleans Parish Juvenile Court Event</strong><br /><a href="https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83603909372?pwd=cERUTnpYNXk0aG0yMDZSQ2QycmdwQT09">https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83603909372?pwd=cERUTnpYNXk0aG0yMDZSQ2QycmdwQT09</a><br />Meeting ID: 836 0390 9372<br />Passcode: 160555<strong></strong></p><p><strong></strong><strong>For more information visit <a href="/">lasc.org</a> or contact Louisiana Supreme Court Public Information Specialist/Coordinator Trina S. Vincent at <a href="mailto:tvincent@lasc.org">tvincent@lasc.org</a> or (504) 310-2590.</strong></p><p style="text-align:center;"><strong>-30-</strong></p>
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