Department of Public Welfare and Pennsylvania's Statewide Adoption Permanency Network Recognized with Adoption Award

HARRISBURG, Pa., Nov. 19, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Department of Public Welfare (DPW) today announced that Pennsylvania's Statewide Adoption Permanency Network (SWAN) has received a 2014 Adoption Excellence Award for its innovative #MeetTheKids campaign featuring Pennsylvania children talking about why they want to be adopted.

The #MeetTheKids campaign won in the category of Media/Social Media/Public Awareness. The Adoption Excellence Award was presented to SWAN at a ceremony on Nov. 18 in Washington, D.C. 

The United States Department of Health and Human Services established the Adoption Excellence Awards program in 1997 to recognize outstanding accomplishments in achieving permanency for America's children waiting in foster care.

"Adoption not only gives children permanent homes, but it also enriches the lives of the families who welcome them," DPW Secretary Beverly Mackereth said. 

Governor Tom Corbett has also declared Nov. 22 as Adoption Day in Pennsylvania.

Every year more than 100,000 children in foster care are available for adoption nationally. Many spend more than five years waiting for permanent homes. In Pennsylvania, 1,875 foster children were adopted in 2012-13.

"These children want homes where they are loved and appreciated for who they are," said Mackereth. "We urge families to consider adopting Pennsylvania children."

For more information on adoption or to see Pennsylvania children waiting to be adopted, visit www.adoptpakids.org.

Numerous adoption awareness events will be occurring across the commonwealth to celebrate National Adoption Month. To find one in your area, please call the SWAN Helpline at 800-585-7926.  

Media contact: Kait Gillis, 717-425-7606

Editors note:  The text of the governor's proclamation follows below.

PROCLAMATION
ADOPTION DAY
November 22, 2014

WHEREAS, all children deserve a loving and nurturing home so that they may reach their full potential; and

WHEREAS, for some children and youth, adoption is their best chance for a healthy and happy life; and

WHEREAS, adoptive parents have a special calling—sharing a loving home with children in need and offering them hope for a brighter future—and should be recognized and honored; and

WHEREAS, the Commonwealth has demonstrated its commitment to adoption through its many programs, including the Statewide Adoption and Permanency Network, the Pennsylvania Adoption Exchange, the Web site www.adoptpakids.org, and the toll-free helpline 800-585-SWAN; and

WHEREAS, despite many successes, there is still a need for permanent, loving homes for as many as 2,500 children and youth in this Commonwealth, and more than 100,000 children in the United States foster care system are waiting to be adopted.

THEREFORE, I, Tom Corbett, Governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, do hereby proclaim November 22, 2014, as ADOPTION DAY in Pennsylvania and encourage all citizens to make every effort to ensure that all children in Pennsylvania have a safe, loving place to call home.

GIVEN under my hand and the Seal of the Governor, at the City of Harrisburg, on this twenty-eighth day of October in the year of our Lord two thousand and fourteen, and of the Commonwealth the two hundred and thirty-ninth.

TOM CORBETT
Governor

SOURCE Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare