Making Families In Riverside County: Adoption Event At RivCo Courts

RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CA — Approximately 80 foster care kids will be formally adopted into loving homes this weekend during a series of hearings in Riverside and Indio. It's all in recognition of National Adoption Awareness Month.

The ceremonies will take place at the Larson Justice Center in Indio and at the downtown Riverside Historic Courthouse. The adoption process will finalize the new families, who live across the county, according to the Department of Public Social Services.

In 2022, the department is coordinating with the juvenile courts in both cities to conduct the hearings. Multiple judges and commissioners will preside over the happy courtrooms, according to the agency.

Children range in age from toddlers to teenagers. During the celebration of joining families together, gift baskets and teddy bears will be presented to the youths to commemorate the finalized adoptions.

Several county supervisors, representatives from the respective cities, judges and others are scheduled to speak during the day-long event.

Until 2015, the county scheduled mass adoption events to coincide with National Adoption Day, which is traditionally the Saturday before Thanksgiving. But DPSS officials said there was a switch to holding the events earlier in the month because too many families complained of scheduling conflicts going into the holiday week.

Since National Adoption Day began in 2000, more than 75,000 children nationwide have been adopted from foster care on that day, according to the National Adoption Day Coalition.

National Adoption Awareness Month is intended to focus attention on the estimated 115,000 children throughout the United States who are in foster care and eligible for adoption.

More information is available at www.nationaladoptionday.org.