Thank you, Dave, for that warm welcome.

Good evening, everyone. It's such a pleasure to be here tonight as we honor some of our area's true heroes — foster parents.

For more than half-a-million children and teens across the nation, foster parents offer a lifeline — a bridge from heartbreak to hope.

As an adoptive mother of two, I hold a special place in my heart for foster parents. You are the ones who open your homes and hearts to children in crisis — often at a moment's notice. The ones who help ease hurts and fears. The people who share what it's like to be cared for and loved. And who rebuild trust and instill hope for the future.

For many children, their foster parents are the first truly caring and dependable adults they've ever known. Because of you, children who have been abandoned, abused and neglected can learn to believe in themselves. And they learn to trust and love again.

Whether these children are part of your family for one night or a lifetime, you make an immeasurable difference in their lives.

That's why, tonight we celebrate you - your caring, your commitment and your selfless devotion to our area's most vulnerable children. The Freddie Mac Foundation is delighted to sponsor this very special event. It's one way of saying thank you for all that you do.

In honoring foster parents throughout the Washington area, we're joined by many distinguished guests. I want to thank the elected officials who have taken time from their hectic schedules to share the evening with us. We are also joined this evening by Mrs. Virginia Williams. As many of you know, Mrs. Williams is the mother of District of Columbia Mayor Anthony Williams, one of several children she and her husband adopted. She's also a very dear friend of mine. Mrs. Williams is known as the "grandmother" of all children in the District of Columbia because of her personal dedication to the issues of foster care and adoption. Mrs. Williams — we're so happy you can be with us tonight.

We also have the privilege of being joined by another well-known champion Washington-area foster children, NBC4 News Anchor Barbara Harrison. Later this evening, Barbara will help us present awards to this year's Outstanding Foster Parents.

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Tonight, we are honored to have Barbara Harrison with us. As co-anchor of NEWS4 Today and NEWS4 at 10:00 AM weekdays, Barbara is well-known to Washington area viewers — both for her excellent news reporting and her deep commitment to the welfare of area children.

Since 1981, when Barbara joined NBC4's news team, she has reported on children's health issues and provided special feature profiles. An interest in child health led to her central role in a major community outreach campaign, "Beautiful Babies, Right From the Start." To motivate women to seek early prenatal care, she made a television journal of her own pregnancy. Her goal was to help decrease the extremely high infant mortality rate in Washington, D.C.

Barbara's warmth and caring also made her the perfect person to put voice in the Wednesday's Child program. Each week, Wednesday's Child, which I'm proud to say is sponsored by the Freddie Mac Foundation, introduces local viewers to a child waiting and hoping to be adopted.

Because Barbara always presents the children in a very positive and engaging way, more than 200 children have found loving, permanent homes after being featured on Wednesday's Child. Due to our success here, we have expanded the program to cities across the country. But it all started Washington, and Barbara set the standard that other reporters would follow.

For her excellence in news reporting, Barbara has received many honors, including several Emmy awards. She also received the Ted Yates Award from the Washington Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences for her outstanding community service.

We're delighted that Barbara is with us to pay tribute to nine special individuals and couples from the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia who have been named Outstanding Foster Parents.

Please join me in welcoming Barbara Harrison.