National Adoption Month: Foster to Adopt

adoption finalization day

Friday, November 18 was a monumental day for some very special friends of ours. After nearly two years of navigating the foster-to-adopt journey with their daughter MacKenzie, she finally became theirs in the eyes of the law - making true in fact what had long been true in their hearts!

Adoption through the US foster care system, like all adoptions, requires patience and persistence. But ultimately a new and beautiful family is formed in a very special way. It was through fostering to adopt that my first nephews joined our family ten years ago, so on a personal level it is near and dear to my heart. The need is so great! According to nationaladoptionday.org, the following figures about US foster care are true:

• There are an estimated 408,425 children in foster care in the United States, and more than 107,000 of them are waiting to be adopted.
• Through no fault of their own, these children enter foster care as a result of abuse, neglect and/or abandonment.
• The average child waits for an adoptive family for more than three years.
• 11 percent spend 5 years or more waiting for a family (43,083 children).
• The average age of children waiting for an adoptive family is 8.
• Nearly 28,000 children reach the age of 18 without ever finding a forever family.

This same website provides excellent information, including links to photo galleries of waiting children nationwide and fact sheets dispelling common myths and stereotypes. That information can be found at the link below. Maybe by sharing their stories one more child can find his or her forever home!

http://www.nationaladoptionday.org/about/adoption-information