National Adoption Day is observed the Saturday before Thanksgiving every year. It’s a day to celebrate and raise awareness for the nearly 114,000 children waiting to be adopted in the United States, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

For Julie Rosati and her husband, Steve, adopting a child isn’t new.

“God blessed us with three older children. They were 9, 10 and 11 when they came to us and we were able to adopt them about two years later," she said.

The two have been married for almost nine years and knew from the beginning they wanted to be involved in foster care. They were focused on adopting older children because they saw more of a need for that, but unique circumstances led them to today.

“We were just so blessed because a mom we became friends with, she felt like we would be a wonderful family when she was pregnant," Rosati said. "She chose us from the beginning that we would foster and then we ended up getting to adopt beautiful Blesson.”

With every child, the feeling they have when it becomes official is one they’ll never forget.

“You feel really overwhelmed because you know, in our case, Steve and I, we couldn’t have children of our own and so we’re just so blessed," she said.

Unfortunately, thousands of children never get that experience. According to the National Foster Youth Institute, 23,000 children age out of the foster care system every year. There's one thing Steve Rosati believes every child should have.

“A feeling of permanency," he said. "Like I belong here and this is the way it's going to be throughout. I’m not gonna get bounced around from place to place or I have no place to go, like kind of a nobody-wants-me-here type of feeling, so it's huge.”

According to The Imprint, a nonprofit publication that reports on child welfare issues, more than half of the states in the U.S. saw a decline in licensed foster homes from 2021 to 2022. Julie and Steve hope more people are willing to adopt because of the impact it can have.

“Some of us have had parents that stayed together and you know, they all made mistakes, but we got a big benefit by living in a loving family that took care of us, and nurtured us, and taught us, and some of these kids don’t have this," Steve said. "You can make a big huge difference in the world.”

More than 40 children were adopted at the Adoption Day celebration in Syracuse.