For most of us, as soon as we turn our calendars to
November, we start thinking about the big family style holidays coming up.
Thanksgiving can be a stressful endeavor with some families, whether it is a
logistics concern, or more often than not, the thought of multiple personalities
clashing over the cranberries. Some of our family squabbles would seem silly to
the thousands of kids here in the United States that need a home.
Since
November is National adoption month, I’m honored to work with today’s sponsor-
the U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services, AdoptUSKids, and the Ad Council to help spread the
word about this growing need and ask for your help as well.
As a Mom of two teen daughters, I was shocked and honestly
heart-sore when I read the information sent to me to share with you today. For
instance, did you know that there are 415,000 children
in the U.S. foster care system and 108,000 are waiting to be adopted?
AdoptUSKids’ maintains a national
photo listing service for children waiting to be adopted. Since the project
launched in 2002, more than 25,000 children who were once photo listed on adoptuskids.org have been adopted and nearly 38,000 families have
registered to adopt through the website.
Nevertheless, older youth
are disproportionately represented – approximately 41 percent of children and youth photo
listed on adoptuskids.org are between 15 and 18 years old, but only 17 percent of
those adopted have been in this age group. This just breaks my heart, because I
don’t know what my world would be like if I didn’t have my two beautiful,
vibrant, smart and funny teens in my life!
Still, the fact is older youth and
teens have lower adoption rates than younger children and often wait longer to
be adopted. Can you imagine what they must feel at this time of year?
All kids need a supportive, loving
home and the teenage years are a critical period of growth. The theme for this
year’s AdoptUSKids campaign is “We never outgrow the need for Family”. Doesn’t
that hit you right in the heart? It did me! If you have ever considered
adopting or fostering a child, now may be the perfect time to get started.
Watch this cute video!
AdoptUSKids wants to remind you- “You don’t have to be
perfect to be a #perfectparent”.
Here are some facts worth considering.
Why Older Youth?
All of us – that includes older youth in foster care who are waiting to
be adopted – need and want families throughout life to support us and to share
important life events. Learning to drive a car, applying for higher education,
and birthday and holiday celebrations are just a few examples of the times in
life we need and want to share with family.
- Older youth are overrepresented in the foster care population, as they generally wait longer to be adopted, and have lower overall adoption rates.
- On adoptuskids.org, roughly 41 percent of the children and youth actively photo listed are between the ages of 15 and 18 years old. About 58 percent are male. (Most recent stats as of May 31, 2015)
- Families, who adopt older youth, are providing them with the support and stability of a family during a critical period of normal adolescent concerns and additional self-identity issues.
Some of the
Misperceptions about Adoption from Foster Care:
Adoption is expensive. Unlike the
private adoption of an infant or adopting internationally, there are virtually
no costs associated with adoption from the US child welfare system. In addition,
the vast majority of youth adopted from foster care are also eligible for
monthly adoption assistance up to the level of the foster care rate.
You have to be married. You do not
have to be married to adopt in most states. Many children have been very
successfully adopted by single parents. Single-parent families accounted for 29
percent of all adoptions from foster care in 2014 (AFCARS).
You have to have a college degree. Having a high school diploma or college education is not
required. What is important is that you are stable, flexible, and
compassionate, and that you have a good sense of humor. Most importantly, you
must have the support and commitment to raise a child and to be there for him
throughout his life.
You have to own a home and each child has to have their
own room. You can rent your home or live in
an apartment or a mobile home so long as your living situation is a stable
one.
You have to be of child-bearing age to adopt. Experienced parents and empty-nesters are encouraged to adopt.
In most instances, you’re eligible to adopt regardless of age, income, marital
status or sexual orientation.
You can only adopt a child who is the same race and
ethnicity as you. Federal law prohibits the delay or
denial of an adoptive placement based on the race or ethnicity of a child in
U.S. foster care and the prospective parent or parents who are seeking to adopt
them. The only exception to this law is the adoption of Native American
children where special considerations apply.
You can’t adopt if you’re in the military. Military families stationed overseas and within the U.S. are
eligible to adopt children from the U.S. foster care system.
As we enter this season of thanks, kindness and giving, I invite you to
learn about adoption, or about
becoming an adoptive parent to a child from foster care, please visit www.adoptuskids.org or visit the campaign’s communities on Facebook and Twitter. You can also call 1-888-200-4005 (English) or 1-877-236-7831 (Spanish) to receive the latest information about the
foster care system and the adoption process.
I thank you sincerely for reading this post to here. I would love if you
would consider sharing this post, so that others can become aware of the
overwhelming need to adopt older kids in the U.S.
Please share in comments: Do you have a positive/uplifting adoption
story? I’d love to hear it! I’ll share your story on my Facebook page as well!
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