Impact

In an effort to educate the community and to spread awareness of the services of the Essex County Surrogate’s Court, we hosted over 50 webinars to inform the public of our work.

For the first time ever, we partnered with Rutgers Law School to host a 2-Credit CLE workshop that outlined the nuts and bolts of adoption and provided attendees with a comprehensive overview of what to expect and common pitfalls when they take on the process.

For National Make-A-Will Month in August, we partnered with award-winning actor, star of the Matrix franchise, and star of ABC’s hit show Lost Harold Perrineau to host a webinar on will and estate planning. We were also joined by Judge Bernice Toledo, Passaic County Surrogate, and Crystal W. Edwards Esq., Principal of Porzio Bromberg & Newman P.C. to discuss the importance of making a will.

We updated our website and created the Surrogate's Corner to provide the public with important updates about our events and initiatives, messages and announcements from the Surrogate, as well as past webinars.

In October, we partnered with the City of Newark for the annual 18-mile Newark Bike Tour against Domestic Violence to raise awareness of domestic violence and funds for the Shani Baraka Women’s Center.

Essex County Surrogate Alturrick Kenney published “Foster to Adopt: How You Can Help Neglected Children Have the Bright Future They Deserve,” an op-ed in Blavity, which identifies the need for more people of color to be involved in every stage of the adoption process.