Travis County Commissioners Court
November 14, 2006
Item 5
Number 5 is to approve proclamation recognizing November 16th, 2006 as Austin adoption day at the gardner-betts juvenile justice center. Morning.
>> good morning.
>> whereas the Commissioners court of Travis County, Texas recognizes the importance of giving children permanent, safe and loving families through adoption, and whereas almost four thousand children in Texas, 400 children in central Texas and 178 children in faikt traikt are waiting for permanent family and to help these children find nurturing families through the efforts of the honorable jean murr, 98th district court judge, the honorable susan could coughington. The honorable jay andrew hathcock, civil court associate john and honorable john hathaway. The Travis County juvenile probation department will open its doors to Thursday, November 16th, 2006, to finalize the adoptions of local children and join the Austin bar association, casa, the Texas department of family and protective services and other organizations to celebrate all adoptions, and whereas this effort along with similar celebrations in all 50 states around the country will offer children the chance to live with stable and loving families, and encourage other dedicated individuals to make a powerful difference in the lives of a child through adoption. Now therefore the Commissioners court of the county of travis in the state of Texas here by proclaim November 16th, 2006 as Austin adoption day in this county. And in so doing urge all citizens to join in a national effort to raise awareness about the importance of adoption. And I move approval.
>> second.
>> morning.
>> good morning.
>> morning, judge, members of the court. My name is andy hathcock, I'm an associate judge for the civil courts here in Travis County. With me this morning to my far right is chief medina. Her executive assistant, debra trotter. To my left is denise hyde, chai of the Austin bar association adoption day committee. And cat henson and janie mishky, who are with the Austin bar association. We're here this morning to express our appreciation to you for your support of Austin adoption day. This is our fifth annual event, and the purpose is to expedite adoptions for children in foster care. This year we expect to finalize the adoptions of 52 children here in Travis County, and to celebrate and honor all families who adopt and to raise public awareness of the tremendous need for families to adopt children out of foster chair. As the proclamation said, there are 178 children right here in Travis County who still need forever families. 52 after Thursday will still brait their first thanksgiving with their forever families, which is very exciting. And we would invite and encourage all of you to attend this Thursday. Thank you.
>> so do we have the 162 after the 52 adoptions or do we subtract?
>> 178 will be left what's after the 52. So we still need more families.
>> and we did about 50 last year?
>> we did actually 84 last year. And we were hoping to do 100 this year, but for various reasons, among them kind of a shortage of adoption case workers, we haven't been able to process them as quickly as we would have liked.
>> so it is one of the most inspiring days. We owe judge murr at least one really guaranteed great day.
>> [ laughter ] it's amazing. And there's so many donors from the community that make the giving of the giant teddy bears and very small teddy bears possible, and it's just -- it's very inspiring and guaranteed good cry.
>> we'll see you on Thursday.
>> such a joy.
>> now, for residents who may be wondering, if you do that many on November 16 16th once a year, what if we tried this approach once a month? There's a good reason why we don't. And it is?
>> well, maybe there isn't a good reason why we don't. That's an excellent idea and something we may need to look at doing.
>> we wouldn't plet case workers stand in our way, the shortage of them. Case workers work for the state, right?
>> yes, sir.
>> and we have adongses going on rear round. -- year-round.
>> once a week we have an adoption docket and we try to celebrate throughout the entire year all those families that adopt. We do this in conjunction with national adoption day. National adoption day is always the Saturday before thanksgiving, and we are part of that effort. And so this is primarily to bring that focus around by doing a very large event once a year and continuing to celebrate and doing adoptions the rest of the year.
>> adoption day once a month sounds real good in Travis County.
>> [ laughter ] I know it makes a lot of difference.
>> we try to emulate adoption day, each adoption docket, and we have stuffed animals for the children and the courtroom decorated, so we would viept you to come -- invite you to come by any Tuesday afternoon and observe the adoptions we do year-round.
>> rather be there than here.
>> [ laughter ]
>> anything else? Appreciate all you do. All in favor? That passes by unanimous vote.
>> thank y'all.
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Last Modified:
Tuesday, November 14, 2006 6:30 PM