1) Congressman Thomas Mac Arthur will honor Vicki Weiss as an Angels in Adoption award recipient for her advocacy on behalf of adoption and foster care issues in Ocean County, New Jersey. 2) Vicki Weiss is the Executive Director of CASA of Ocean County, which recruits and trains volunteers to advocate for the best interests of abused and neglected children in foster care. 3) Under Weiss' leadership, CASA of Ocean County has trained over 165 volunteers who have assisted 374 abused children in finding permanent homes, with many being reunited with or adopted by their families.

1. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Allison Coble, Senior Director of Programs
Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute
allison@ccainstitute.org
(p) 202-544-8500
Congressman Thomas Mac Arthur Celebrates Vicki Weiss as an Angels in Adoption®
To Be Recognized at National Event in Washington, D.C.
Toms River, NJ – September, 2016– Congressman Thomas Mac Arthur will celebrate Vicki Weiss,
CASA of Ocean County’s Executive Director, as a 2016 Angels in Adoption® awardee for her
outstanding advocacy of adoption and court advocacy for foster care issues. The Congressional
Coalition on Adoption Institute (CCAI), which orchestrates the Angels in Adoption®Program, will
honored Vicki Weiss at an awards ceremony on September 20 and gala on September 21 in Washington,
D.C.
Vicki Weiss, a survivor of abuse and neglect who lived in the foster care system as a child, is the
Executive Director for the past five years for CASA of Ocean County, New Jersey. Court Appointed
Special Advocates (CASA) of Ocean County, an affiliate of a State and National CASA Network, is a
non profit volunteer driven program that exists to recruit, train and supervise every day concerned
citizens to speak on behalf of the best interests of abused and neglected children that have been removed
from their homes and living in out of home placement.
In Ocean County alone, there are over 750 children living in foster care. Ms. Weiss has successfully led
this organization to raise awareness of the serious issues of child abuse in the Ocean County community,
grown the organization’s capacity to serve additional children and works diligently to raise the critical
funding required to sustain and grow the program’s mission.
CASA of Ocean County has trained 165 volunteers with a 30 hour training course to become Judicial
Volunteers. These remarkable advocates assisted 374 abused children by working with the court system
to move them to a permanent and safe home. Over the past ten years, the Advocates worked with the
court system to successfully reunify 131 foster children with their healthier parents. We are happy to
announce that within this same time period, 11 foster children were adopted by their relatives; 37
children were adopted by their foster families; and 15 children found forever homes by Kinship Legal
Guardianship with relatives. These are staggering outcomes for innocent children that have a right to
thrive in the Child System of Care.
Ocean County, New Jersey is struggling with the increased demand for court advocacy services, largely
due to the heroin and opiate epidemic in the community which is causing so a variety of social illness
such as; domestic violence, poverty, homelessness, and even parental death by overdose or suicide. The
back lash of this drug epidemic leaves hundreds of children, by no fault of their own, to experience the
hard reality experiencing life growing up in the foster care system. Ms. Weiss is a community leader
serves on several Board of Directors of multiple social service agencies that are working together to
respond to the immediate educational and medical needs of children and families in crisis.
Ms. Weiss is a dedicated, passionate, and compassionate individual that understands the voice of the
children living in foster care and will continue to ensure every child in Ocean County has a CASA
Volunteer of their own. She is proud to say, “I am for the Child” and every child deserves a safe, loving
and permanent home.
The Angels in Adoption® Program is CCAI’s signature public awareness event and provides an
opportunity for all members of the U.S. Congress to honor the good work of their constituents who have
enriched the lives of foster children and orphans in the United States and abroad. This year, more than
140 “Angels” are being honored through the Angels in Adoption®Program.

2. “The Angels in Adoption® Program is a unique annual opportunity in the nation’s Capital to shine a
well-deserved spotlight on the power of adoption and the unspoken heroes who have made the dream of
a family a reality for children. Since the program’s inception, over 2,500 Angels have come to
Washington to share their firsthand adoption experiences with Members of Congress, highlighting its
joys, as well as the barriers encountered in the process,” said Becky Weichhand, Executive Director at
CCAI. “Members of Congress are then able to use their new experiential understanding of these issues
to create policy improvements that better support these children and the families that open their hearts
and homes to them.”
In addition to the more than 140 Angels from around the country, National Angels in Adoption®
honorees will be recognized at the gala for their dedication and commitment nationally and
internationally to child welfare on a grand scale. This year’s National Angels in Adoption® honoree is the
Minnesota Vikings. Former National Angels include Korie and Willie Robertson, Shonda Rhimes,
Deborra-Lee Furness Jackman, First Lady Laura Bush, Patti LaBelle, Jane Seymour, Muhammad Ali,
the late Dave Thomas, Steven Curtis Chapman, Bruce Willis, Alonzo Mourning, Rhea Perlman and
Kristin Chenoweth.
CCAI is a 501(c)3 nonpartisan organization dedicated to raising awareness about the tens of thousands
of orphans and foster children in the United States and the millions of orphans around the world in need
of permanent, safe and loving homes through adoption.
CCAI was created in 2001 by the active co-chairs of the bicameral, bipartisan Congressional Coalition
on Adoption, one of Congress’ premiere caucuses. The goal of the caucus is to eliminate policy barriers
that hinder children from realizing their basic right of a family and more effectively raise Congressional
and public awareness about adoption.
The Angels in Adoption® Program was established in 1999 as a Congressional press conference to honor
outstanding individuals. Since then, the program has developed into a yearlong public awareness
campaign, culminating in an extraordinary awards gala and celebration in Washington, D.C.
CCAI does not receive any government funding and relies on the generous support of foundations,
corporations, and individuals to accomplish this mission. For more information, visit
www.ccainstitute.org or www.angelsinadoption.org.
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