Hundreds of Missouri and Kansas children will find their “forever homes” today and over the weekend as courts are filled with families taking a new member into their homes. Saturday is National Adoption Day and judges across both states have cleared their dockets to finalize adoptions on Friday and Saturday.
In the Kansas City area, 39 kids will be in Jackson County Court today for the official ceremony to get new moms and dads. In Kansas round 35 children are expected to be adopted during a celebration at the Shawnee County Courthouse Saturday. They join the around 1,500 children that are expected to be adopted this fiscal year in Kansas and over 2,000 in Missouri.
“Adoption is such an important part to children in care. Many of them have spent years in care and it’s just important for them to be able to find a forever family and to be able to celebrate being adopted and becoming apart of another family,” said Kansas Department for Children and Families Secretary Gina Meier-Hummel.
Kansas Department of Children and Families is on track to double the number of finalized adoptions this year. The huge jump is one of the lasting legacies of former Gov. Sam Brownback who had made finding kids a home a priority.
Still around 500 children remain in the system, half of them are in sibling groups and a quarter of them are over the age of 15.
“I think sometimes people have a thought about kids in care and they have all these issues but many of these children just want a forever family and just want to be part of a family,” said Meier-Hummel.
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