Remembering National Adoption Day – Help Others this National Adoption Month!

For many years I had the honor and privilege of organizing and hosting National Adoption Day for the Circuit Court for Prince George’s County, Maryland. On that joyous day we would finalize approximately ten adoptions in the morning and follow it with a big celebration in a packed ceremonial courtroom.  Invited to the celebration were all the families that had adopted that year, along with local officials, courtroom staff, and friends and supporters of our new forever families.

The community truly embraced National Adoption Day with numerous organizations serving as sponsors. They generously donated gifts to the children to include gift cards, teddy bears, blankets, and stuffed backpacks from Jockey Being Family and Center for Adoption Support and Education (C.A.S.E.). The smiles on the faces of the children and their new parents brought back memories of my adoption day in the Baltimore City Courthouse when I became a mom to my beautiful daughter.

Each year we would ask an adoptee and their family to talk about their adoption journey.  We learned about international adoptions, adoptions of older children, disabled children, abandoned children, and even more special for me, one year, my daughter’s story.

– Judge Beverly J. Woodard, C.A.S.E. Board Member, Senior Judge, Prince George’s County, MD Circuit Court