ILLINOIS, November 22 - November is Adoption Awareness Month in Illinois

Marion, IL - Thirty children in foster care will join their forever families when their adoptions are finalized this morning at the Williamson County Courthouse in Marion. Similar events are taking place at the Richard J. Daley Center in Chicago today, the Winnebago County Criminal Justice Center in Rockford tomorrow and hundreds of locations across the country in celebration of National Adoption Day.

Williamson County Circuit Court Judge Amanda Byassee Gott, Illinois DCFS and private agency staff will come together to make the day memorable for these new families. Doors will open at 8:30 a.m. and the finalizations will begin at 9 a.m. A celebration, including refreshments for the families, will follow.

"Williamson County is thrilled to be hosting National Adoption Day again this year," said Judge Amanda Byassee Gott. "Presiding over adoption proceedings where children find their forever families is one of the highlights of my time on the bench as a judge each year. As a juvenile judge, it is a privilege for me to preside over this final step of permanency for youth in care of DCFS."

"We have all heard the expression about giving our children ‘roots' and ‘wings' to grow into successful adults," said Illinois DCFS Director Heidi E. Mueller. "I am excited to celebrate the families that are becoming complete today and to shine a light on the very special role adoptive parents play when they open their hearts and homes to children in need. This Adoption Awareness Month, Illinois DCFS especially wants to lift up and thank adoptive parents across Illinois who give children in need their roots by ensuring connections to community, including racial, ethnic and cultural identities; and their wings by reminding them that they will always have a safe, supportive and loving family to come home to, no matter what."

Last fiscal year 2,184 Illinois children were adopted into permanent, loving families. Today there are 2,841 youth in care with a permanency goal of adoption. To learn more about some of them, visit the Heart Gallery of Illinois at https://greenlightfamilyservices.org/heartgalleryofil/. For more information about becoming an adoptive parent, visit dcfs.illinois.gov and click on "Loving Homes" then on "Become a Foster or Adoptive Parent."

Adoption is a permanent commitment to a child. DCFS offers a range of supports to adoptive families, including reimbursement for attorney fees and court costs, a monthly subsidy, a medical card and other benefits which assist in defraying expenses associated with raising a child. Many considering adoption become licensed foster families first, giving them a better understanding of the needs of children from disrupted families before making a life-changing decision.

National Adoption Day, held annually on the Saturday before Thanksgiving, is a collective, national effort to raise awareness of the more than 108,000 youth in foster care who are waiting for families to call their own. National Adoption Day has made the dreams of thousands of children come true by working with courts, judges, attorneys, adoption professionals, child welfare agencies, advocates and policymakers to finalize adoptions and create and celebrate adoptive families. Since its inception in 2000, National Adoption Day has helped more than 85,000 children across the country move from foster care to forever families. To learn more about National Adoption Day, visit www.nationaladoptionday.org.

About the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) Currently celebrating 60 years as the nation's first cabinet-level child welfare agency, DCFS is responsible for protecting children from abuse or neglect by responding to reports received by the Child Abuse Hotline 1-800-252-2873 (1-800-25-ABUSE) or childabuse.illinois.gov (non-emergency). With the goal of keeping children safe, DCFS strengthens and supports families with a wide range of services. In the event a child must be removed from the home, DCFS makes every effort to reunite them with their family. When the best interest of the child makes this impossible (less than 4% of the time), DCFS is committed to pursuing guardianship and fictive kin as primary options.