Adoption Celebration unites Utah families for day of fun

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DRAPER — It's a day many kids look forward to all year: the Adoption Celebration at Boondocks Fun Center.

"I get phone calls all the time from families who say, 'My kids count on it every year,'" said Kathy Searle, director of programs at the Utah Adoption Exchange.

"Parents get to come and watch their children have fun; and some of the families, especially if they adopted quite a few kids, wouldn't ordinarily be able to afford to come and do all of this with their family," Searle said.

The day provides a unique opportunity for adopted children to meet others like themselves.

"Some kids think that they're the only ones who are adopted," Searle said. "In our communities, there's not a ton of adopted children. So when they come here today they realize there's a lot of other families like them, and I think it helps them to feel better about their situation."

April Blair and her husband found a brother and sister from an orphanage just a few years ago. After completing mounds of paperwork, Blair was able to adopt the children.

"They were in the capital of Ethiopia, which is Addis Ababa," she said. Her daughter, Abriha Blair, said the day they were adopted is one she'll never forget.

"I just remember when I saw my parents, and then we started to play a lot, and then they chose us to be adopted," she said.

April Blair said she can't imagine the decision to adopt turning out any better than it has. "They are great kids, so much fun, and bring us so much joy," she said. "We can't imagine life without them."

Saturday was a day filled with celebration, with a mood similar to one at a birthday party — but the decorations aren't what you might expect. Instead of signs or streamers, the walls are decorated with pictures children living in foster care.

Instead of signs or streamers, Adoption Celebration organizers decorated the walls at Boondocks Fun Center with pictures children living in foster care. The hope was for those visiting the Fun Center to consider adoption for their own families. (Photo: Ray Boone, KSL-TV)

"We're hoping that families that may not have considered adopting through foster care will come to a party like this and realize that there's kids right in their own community that need families," Searle said.

Children in foster care are ones who suffered abuse or neglect and live without a home to call their own. They are often forced to move from house to house, partially because of an idea that they're damaged.

"There's this myth that if you adopt a child older than an infant that they're going to come with a lot of baggage," Searle said. "They've had a life prior to the one coming into your home, but these kids want what all of us want: They want to be loved, they want to belong, they want to be a part of a family."

The Adoption Exchange hopes this audience of parents who've already adopted kids will understand what they do: that these children deserve better.

"When I see kids growing up in foster care, it makes me sad because parents should be watching kids grow up, not a professional like me," Searle said. "I've seen a dozen or more kids who came into our system at (age) 8 or 9, and some of them have gotten adopted at 18 and 19, and some aged out of the system."

It doesn't just make professionals sad, even a little girl from Ethiopia can understand the pictures hanging on the walls.

"There's so many kids that don't have moms or dads," Abriha said.

Right now there are more than 3,000 children living in the Utah Foster Care System who need a permanent and loving home. If you would like to learn more, go to KSL.com's Wednesday's Child section.