 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 17, 2014
Contact:
Lois Nilson, program manager for foster care and adoption, 612-596-0779
Maria Elena Baca, Communications, 612-348-7865
News release
On National Adoption Day this
Saturday, 41 Hennepin County children will have a chance for a new beginning, and 27
families will embark on a new chapter in their lives together. Adoption Day is a time for
celebration at the Juvenile Justice Center, as parents and children come
together in a finalization hearing before a district court judge.
Adoptive parents are people who want to grow their own families, or who want to be a positive force for children in their communities. Many are foster parents. Others are stepping forward to help members of their own families. Others
have only recently met the children who they will be parenting. They are
single people, married couples and domestic partners, same-sex, straight, of all
races and ethnicities. What they all share is room for a child in their hearts
and their homes.
Every day, children and teens in
Hennepin County are in limbo; their birth parents have lost the right to raise
them because of abuse or neglect. Relatives and foster parents make a vital
difference in kids’ lives, but kids are waiting for a new family to give them
safety, love, encouragement and someone to count on for the long haul.
"Children are starting over," said Lois Nilson, program manager for foster care and adoption in Hennepin County. "They have healing to do. Kids
who have permanent families know they have a place to belong, and that can help them through the rough spots. It makes such a difference to grow up knowing that someone will always be there, through thick and through thin."
Need is great for older kids, sibling groups
Most often, the children who need
adoptive families are older, school-aged children, or teenagers, or groups of
three or more brothers and sisters whose healing and well-being depends on
sticking together.
Amy Holubar and her partner Dawn
Hunt will be in attendance Saturday; they will finalize their adoption of four
boys, ranging in age from 17 months to 4½. A.J. and Jack are brothers; so are Levi and
Zachary. They also are providing foster care for an infant girl.
The women were motivated by
gratitude for their own lives to bring children into their North Minneapolis
home.
“We both pretty much had a really
good life and there have been plenty of leg ups and circumstances where we had
people who we were there to help us, before we even met,” Holubar said. “I don’t want to end up leaving this world
knowing that I didn’t pay it forward in my life.”
Change in law affects numbers
The number of families finalizing adoptions this year is about double the usual dozen or so,
because of a change in Minnesota law, effective January 1, that will standardize
the way adoptive parents are reimbursed for vital services that many adopted
children need, such as therapy, medical care and other services. This Adoption
Day will see a higher number of adoptions among children 5 years old and
younger, whose parents hope to be grandfathered in under the old system that
was more beneficial to them; another event in February is expected to see a
rush of parents adopting teenagers, who will benefit from funding increases
under the new law. The aim of the new law is to remove disincentives from
adoption and decrease the number of children and teens who languish in foster
care.
But the real rewards of foster care
and adoption are heart-felt, Holubar said.
“These kids are amazing,” she said. “We learn so much from
them. We are humbled by our children because they teach us what life’s about. Having
them in our lives makes us better people.”
The media are welcome to share in this year’s Adoption Day celebrations. The event is Saturday, November 22, 9 to 11:30 a.m., at the Juvenile Justice Center, second floor, 590 Park Avenue South, Minneapolis.
Media are asked to understand that some families
would like privacy on this important day; others are eager to share their
stories with reporters. Please ask for assistance with interviews and photos.
For more information about adoption
in Hennepin County, visit www.hennepin.us/adoption.
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Look for more news on the Hennepin County website at www.hennepin.us/news.
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