National Adoption Day Brings Special Event To Camden

by KYW's David Madden

CAMDEN, NJ (CBS) --  This is National Adoption Day, and events are being held across the country to mark the importance of finding forever homes for more than 100 thousand children in the US.

26 children are leaving foster care to be placed with permanent families during ceremonies in Camden County, which include a noontime luncheon to celebrate.

"The average wait for a child in foster care is nearly 3 years before being adopted," county Surrogate Michelle Gentek-Mayer told KYW Newsradio. "So we just encourage families who maybe don't have children or who have children and want to just expand their families, we encourage them to come out and give a child a home."

This is the 13th year the county has coordinated a mass adoption with the national event, and publicity seems to be working. Gentek-Mayer concedes many prospective adoptive parents worry about the cost of adopting a child. But doing so through a government agency is far less expensive than using a private agency. And that's when they get the whole picture.

"When they find out that there's more than 100 thousand children in the United States in foster care, that touches people and then they decide that they want to give that child a home," she said.

Today's event, paired with ongoing efforts to promote adoption, has increased the numbers of children taken out of foster care in recent years. In 2014, there were 248 adoptions in the county.

Last year, the number rose to 294.