Exemplary adoptive families, birth parents, advocates and others were honored on Nov. 14, in Bismarck at the 2009 Adoption Celebration held at Ascension Church. Department of Human Services officials and licensed child placement agencies co-hosted the event to present recognition awards and to remind people about the impact adoption has on children who need permanent loving homes.
Honorees included two families who received the 2009 Foster Care Adoptive Family Award: David and Catherine Heyd of LaMoure and Keith and Tracy Wenger of Minot. The Heyds are parents of five children. Four joined their family through adoption. They provided foster care to two of the children prior to their adoptions and remain licensed foster parents.
In addition to the state awards, adoptive parents Robert and Vicki Thu of Jamestown were also recognized. They were nominated by the state's congressional delegation and received the 2009 Angels in Adoption Award presented in September from the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute.
Last year 126 children were adopted from the public foster care system in North Dakota. Of the other 196 adoptions filed in North Dakota that year, 20 involved children from foreign countries; 44 involved healthy infants; and 132 involved adoptions by stepparents.
For adoption and foster care information, contact the Department of Human Services' Children and Family Services Division at 701-328-2316, 1-800-245-3736, e-mail dhscfs@nd.gov , or visit www.nd.gov/dhs/ services/childfamily/adoption.
