In recognition of National Adoption Day on Saturday, November 23, 2024, Maryland’s circuit courts will hold adoption proceedings and family celebrations at local courthouses statewide. National Adoption Day honors adoptive families and draws attention to the need for permanent, loving families for children in foster care. The media is invited to attend.

Anne Arundel County 
The Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County will commemorate National Adoption Day on Thursday, November 21, 2024, at a special hearing at 9 a.m. in Courtroom 4C. Administrative Judge Donna M. Schaeffer will preside over the five adoptions currently scheduled. Once the adoption hearings are completed, there will be a reception in the fourth-floor gallery of the courthouse for the new families and guests. This year, the Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County has held 58 adoption hearings. To attend as a member of the media, please RSVP to the Office of the Court Administrator at 410-222-1404 or email [email protected].

Baltimore City
The Baltimore City Circuit Court will host a National Adoption Day event on Saturday, November 23, 2024, from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m., in Courtroom 556 at the Elijah E. Cummings Courthouse, 111 N. Calvert Street. Chief and Administrative Judge Audrey J.S. Carrión, Judge Michael DiPietro, Judge in Charge of the Family Division, and Judge Charles Blomquist, Judge in Charge of the Juvenile Division, will confirm adoptions for 24 children. Each family will be provided with a gift basket. Speakers from the Bar Association of Baltimore City and the Baltimore City Department of Social Services will welcome the families and guests. To attend as a member of the media, please RSVP to Karen Fast, executive director of the Bar Association of Baltimore City, at [email protected] or 410-539-5936.

Baltimore County 
The Circuit Court for Baltimore County will hold a National Adoption Day ceremony on Saturday, November 23, 2024, at 11 a.m. in Ceremonial Courtroom 5 in the Historic Courthouse, 400 Washington Ave., in Towson. Judge Sherrie Bailey and Judge John Hennegan (ret.) will preside over the adoption of nine children into seven families. Following the ceremony will be a reception at Charles Village Pub on Pennsylvania Avenue in Towson, where there will be food, drinks, arts and crafts, face painting and a balloon artist. To attend as a member of the media, please RSVP to Rachel Ruocco at 410-337-9103 or [email protected].

The Maryland Judiciary’s Adoption Day video features highlights from National Adoption Day activities at the Circuit Court for Baltimore County.

Montgomery County 
The Circuit Court for Montgomery County and Montgomery County Child Welfare Services will host a National Adoption Day ceremony on Friday, November 22, 2024, at 3:30 p.m. in Courtroom 3E to celebrate local children and families coming together through foster care adoption. Circuit and County Administrative Judge James A. Bonifant, Senior Judge Joan E. Ryon, and Judge Debra L. Dwyer will finalize the adoptions of ten children. To attend as a member of the media, please contact Angela Yoo at [email protected] or 240-777-9119.

Prince George’s County 
Prince George’s County Circuit and County Administrative Judge DaNeeka Varner Cotton, Seventh Judicial Circuit, and Judge Judy L. Woodall, chair of the National Adoption Day celebration, will preside over “25 Years of Celebrating a Family for Every Child,” a National Adoption Day Ceremony, on Thursday, November 21, 2024, at 11 a.m. The event will be held in The Honorable Sheila R. Tillerson Adams Ceremonial Courtroom, M3400, at the Prince George’s County courthouse in Upper Marlboro, Maryland.

The ceremony will recognize new adoptive families and feature a guest speaker from the adoption community. If you are attending as a member of the media, please RSVP to the event by emailing Jocelyn Steele, Circuit Court for Prince George’s County communications specialist, at [email protected].