Our Views: A Cause of Thanksgiving in New Child Adoptions | Our opinions

On Thanksgiving, America’s first family day, the adoption gift for children is all about celebration.

Thanks to the vital and sometimes very difficult work of the Ministry of Children and Family Services, children who need help can get it, thanks to a foster care system that the ministry is constantly working to improve.

Prevention, as DCFS secretary Marketa Garner Walters says, can keep families together, but for foster carers, adoption is the outcome the agency is working towards.

Thus, an annual highlight of their work is foster care adoption. Louisiana First Lady Donna Edwards hosted the virtual Thanksgiving celebration this year of 470 families adopting 612 children and teens into their “forever” families.

This is a remarkable result, given the disruption in the lives of Americans over the past two years. DCFS praised the work of its Covington office in making 154 adoptions possible.

At the same time, the US Congressional Adoption Coalition recognized the St. Elizabeth of Baton Rouge Foundation as one of its Angel Awards, nominated by the region’s Congressman Garret Graves.

Since 1988, the agency has placed more than 600 babies in permanent homes with the support of its donors.

Thanksgiving isn’t an all-American holiday – our cousins ​​in Canada had theirs last month – but its focus on family and fellowship makes it the season to celebrate these newly expanded families and new horizons for. young people who have a new start in their lives.