Join us for an Adoption Day Celebration!

The WV Recruitment and Retention Collaborative invites you to a day of celebration in honor of National Adoption Day. On November 20th starting at 2PM, participants can explore the Clay Center's Avampato Discovery Museum, which houses two floors of hand-on exhibits featuring more than 12,000 square feet of nonstop fun. At 4:30 we will head to the Intermezzo Cafe for refreshments and to hear guest speakers. Ending the celebration at 6 o'clock we will hold a candlelight ceremony outside of the Clay Center. Please feel free to join us at any time during the celebration event. To view the flyer for the event, please click here: Adoption Celebration Flyer

A recap of The National Adoption Day Event!

WOW! The 2009 National Adoption Day event went better than we could have asked for! Almost 200 adoption/foster care supporters came together to celebrate the love and joys of adoption while remembering the thousands of children in the U.S. who are legally eligible for adoption and waiting for a forever family.

The event started off with two hours of play time at the Clay Center Discovery Museum. At approximately 5 o'clock, all of the children were asked to participate in a craft in which they decorated a luminary for the candlelight vigil. While the craft was going on, participants were treated to light snacks of fruits, vegetables and a delicious cake.

During the vigil, the luminaries surrounded the statue of children in the front court of the Clay Center. Being in the presence of so many wonderful families and children was inspiring and heartwarming. Seeing the candles lit at the vigil provided a beautiful image of how important it is to be the light of a child's life, which was the theme of this year's event. Following the same theme, all of our speakers beautiful stories provided a light of their own as we all reflected on the importance of opening our lives to children who are waiting for a family.

Speakers at the event included Michelle Bush, CASA Executive Director, Barbara Pryor, Legislative Assistant, David & Dawn Heatwole, Adoptive family and 2009 Angels in Adoption Recipients, and adopted teen Amber Beal spoke about adoption and the importance of coming together to celebrate such a special cause.

Thank you WVDHHR and the WV Retention and Recruitment Collaborative for sponsoring the event and thank you to every member of the R&R Collaborative - this was definitely a group effort and everyone did such a wonderful job helping out! Also, thank you to the Clay Center for your hospitality. We can't thank everyone who helped out enough!

Below are pictures of the event and we promise to keep them coming! If you took any pictures at the event and would like to share them, please send them to us - Email: crobey(at)missionwv.org