National Adoption Day will be observed at the Douglas County Justice Center in Omaha on Saturday, November 23. The event, located at 1717 Harney Street, is scheduled from 8:30 a.m. to noon and will commence with a press conference in the first-floor conference room at 8:30 a.m. Adoption hearings are set to follow in the juvenile courtrooms on the second and third floors.
Judge Candice Novak is hosting this year's event, which involves all juvenile judges participating in adoption hearings. Forty-one children are expected to be adopted along with two guardianships during the proceedings. Families will check in on the first floor where various activities and amenities such as child-focused entertainment, gift bags for adopted children, T-shirts, family photos, refreshments, and flowers for parents will be provided.
This annual occasion underscores the contributions of policymakers, practitioners, lawyers, courts, and advocates who facilitate adoptions and foster new family formations. National Adoption Awareness Month is celebrated every November across the United States.
The primary objective of National Adoption Day is to increase awareness about more than 100,000 children awaiting adoption from foster care in the United States. It also serves as an opportunity to finalize adoptions and celebrate children who have found permanent families.
Each year on Omaha’s Adoption Saturday, juvenile judges come together to emphasize the need for foster-adopt families and finalize adoptions for children.
November's National Adoption Month also pays tribute to families who have welcomed children into their homes and hearts as well as volunteers and mentors who provide stability during significant life transitions.
Raymond J. Curtis serves as the media contact for this event. He is the Court Administrator at Douglas County Juvenile Court located at 1717 Harney Street Suite 4-210 in Omaha, NE 68183. For inquiries, he can be reached at phone number 402.444.7885.
In Nebraska's judicial system structure, judicial power is distributed among several courts including Supreme Court and county courts under administrative direction of the Supreme Court itself. Apart from these constitutional courts there are separate juvenile courts situated in Douglas County among others within Nebraska’s jurisdiction.