On Friday, November 21, Miami Children’s Museum hosted National Adoption Day, where dozens of children who are in foster care were made permanent members of loving families in Miami-Dade County. The event was organized by the Florida Department of Children and Families and Our Kids of Miami-Dade and Monroe Counties. Jane Muir and Megan Ralstin of Muir & Associates served as witnesses for the legal formalities that concluded the adoptions.
National Adoption Day is a celebration of awareness of the 100,000 children in foster care who are seeking permanent, loving families. A coalition of non-profits, policymakers, practitioners and advocates finalize adoptions, and create and celebrate adoptive families. The Florida Department of Children and Families is a state agency that monitors the welfare of children. Sometimes, if parents abuse their children, the children will be removed from their care. After careful evaluation, the courts may determine that the parents are not fit to care for their children and remove their rights as parents. Sadly, some parents even abandon their children. These children who are removed from their birth parents’ care or abandoned may be placed in the care of non-profit entities. These organizations, like Our Kids, identify and screen potential foster parents.
Case managers carefully monitor the foster parents’ treatment of the children, their education and growth. The goal of the collaboration between the State and these non-profit organizations is to find permanent, loving homes for the children.
At National Adoption Day, Judges Alan Fine, Michael Hanzman, Rosa Figarola, Orlando Prescott, joined with Guardians Ad Litem, Case Management Agencies such as: His House, Family Resource Center, Center of Family and Child Enrichment, CHARLEE home for Children, Children’s Home Society, and Wesley House Family Services, Defense Council, private attorneys and community service partners to conclude adoptions for nearly one hundred children. Speaker Denise Sasiain, who adopted her fourth child, moved the audience by saying, “Some babies grow in our tummies, but others grow in our hearts.”
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