Governor Doug Ducey proclaimed November 2022 to be Adoption Awareness Month in Arizona to highlight the importance of connecting children with loving families and to raise awareness of the organizations that support children in out-of-home care.
“Every child deserves a safe and loving home with a permanent family,” said Governor Ducey. “It takes the collaboration of public, charitable, faith-based and business communities to expand opportunities for families and youth. This Adoption Awareness Month, we are highlighting resources like the Children’s Heart Gallery to further our commitment to helping children in out-of-home care connect with a safe and loving family. We’re dedicated to serving Ariozna’s children and families. My thanks to the Arizona Department of Child Safety and organization who have helped countless kids in need.”
Arizona has connected nearly 27,000 children to a safe, permanent and loving home through adoptions. The state is a leader in helping to ensure better outcomes for Arizona children and families. Since 2016, the number of children in foster care has declined 30 percent – all while maintaining safety as the number one priority. The state has also safely reunified nearly 45,000 children with their biological parents.
"We value adoptive families' service throughout the year, but National Adoption Month is an opportunity to commend their unwavering commitment to making a positive impact on children’s lives," said DCS Director Mike Faust. "It also gives us the opportunity to call attention to the ongoing need to recruit adoptive parents and to encourage anyone interested in adopting or fostering a child to contact DCS to learn more about the process.”
This year, Governor Ducey signed legislation to keep more families together, raising the kinship family stipend. Grandparents and close relatives raising children in kinship care will get a boost in their monthly stipend, providing much needed support to these selfless caregivers.
The bill pairs with another that allowed the Arizona Department of Child Safety (DCS) to create a swift pathway to licensure for kin. Caregivers who are licensed will have the same level of financial support as foster care providers.
The Arizona Children’s Heart Gallery features pictures and bios of foster children, with the purpose of connecting them with loving families. To learn more about the adoption process, DCS features orientation videos on its website.
View the Arizona Adoption Awareness proclamation HERE and below.
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WHEREAS, the State of Arizona recognizes the importance of giving children who cannot safely reunify with their birth families a permanent, safe, and nurturing family through adoption; and
WHEREAS, state and private agencies work collaboratively with the courts, community members, and members of faith-based organizations to unite children and adults through the process of adoption; and
WHEREAS, we recognize that children thrive in safe and loving homes that provide family connections to support them through to adulthood; and
WHEREAS, adopting a child is a great joy and pbrings upon us an opportunity for collaboration between adoptive families and the communities who support them; and
WHEREAS, caring people interested in adoption can visit the Arizona Department of Child Safety’s Children’s Heart Gallery website to learn more about Arizona children who are in need of safe and permanent family settings; and
WHEREAS, every successful adoption is more than an achievement for these children and their adoptive families, it is a story in which all Arizonans can share; and
WHEREAS, adoptive families and the children they live and have provided permanency for, have a community that provides them with support and care to ensure they are supported throughout their adoption.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, Douglas A. Ducey, Governor of the State of Arizona, do hereby proclaim November 2022 as
ARIZONA ADOPTION AWARENESS MONTH
and urge all citizens, communities, and support organizations to renew our commitment to increasing the number of Arizona children who find permanency through a loving and adoptive family.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused to be affixed the Great Seal of the State of Arizona
GOVERNOR
DONE at the Capitol in Phoenix on this seventh day of October in the year Two Thousand and Twenty-Two and of the Independence of the United States of America the Two Hundred and Forty-Seventh.
ATTEST:
SECRETARY OF STATE
Original source can be found here.
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