Wednesday, October 01, 2003 Contact: Sean Oblack (202) 225-4176 Schiff Announces Pasadena Residents Ed And Judy Shrader Are "Angels In Adoption" WASHINGTON, D.C. - Pasadena residents Ed and Judy Shrader were honored yesterday evening as Congressional Angels in Adoption at a national ceremony held in Washington, DC. Rep. Schiff selected the Shraders to be honored at this year’s ceremony for their years of commitment as foster and adoptive parents. "It is an privilege to be able to honor such amazing parents as Ed and Judy Shrader," Rep. Schiff said today. "As devoted parents to children of all backgrounds, the Shraders recognized that there is no substitute for a loving, nurturing home. I commend them for their commitment to our community and for opening their hearts and home to children who needed them." Ed and Judy Shrader are long-time residents of Pasadena, California. Ed Shrader is a Marriage and Family Therapist and currently serves as Clinical Director of the Mental Health Department at the Almansor Center - a non-profit agency that provides services for at at-risk youth. Judy Shrader is a critical care nurse in a neonatal intensive care unit and has been a nurse for 25 years in adult critical care. The Shraders have two biological children: Tiffany, 26, a fourth grade teacher in West Covina and Teddy, 20, a student at Pasadena City College. Additionally, they have five adopted children: Scotty, 16, a junior at Blair High School, Christy, 14, a freshman at South Pasadena High School, Ashley, 12, a 6th grader at South Pasadena Junior High, Whitney, 9, a 4th grader at Monterey Hills Elementary and Laurie, 6, a 1st grader at Monterey Hills Elementary. In a personal statement submitted to Rep. Schiff’s office, Ed and Judy wrote of their experiences as foster and adoptive parents: "Being blessed with two biological children, Tiffany and Teddy, we wanted to provide a home for children who needed one. We felt we could be the most helpful in fostering prenatally drug-exposed infants. Much of the professional thinking at the time was that the drug exposed baby generation would be a "lost generation" due to so many developmental deficits. We chose not to think so, and in our case it proved correct. Our plan was to love and nurture each foster child we had, to the best of our ability, and if they could not be reunited with their biological family, then we would adopt them. We fostered one child at a time, and now, seventeen years later, we have adopted five wonderful former foster children." The Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute (CCAI) hosts the ceremony for adoptive parents each year. The CCAI is a non-partisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to raising congressional and public awareness about the tens of thousands of foster children in this country and the millions of orphans around the world in need of permanent, safe, and loving homes; and to eliminating the barriers that hinder these children from realizing their need of a family. Each year, CCAI invites all members of the United States Congress to participate in the Angels in Adoption program, as it is a unique opportunity for federal legislators to recognize individuals from their home states that have improved the lives of children through adoption. Since the program’s inception in 1999, members of Congress have awarded over 550 congressional Angels in Adoption from all 50 states and invited them to attend CCAI’s extraordinary Angels in Adoption awards banquet in their honor. Rep. Schiff represents California’s 29th Congressional District, including the communities of Alhambra, Altadena, Burbank, East Pasadena, East San Gabriel, Glendale, Monterey Park, Pasadena, San Gabriel, South Pasadena and Temple City.