November is National Adoption Month (Yay! Heels clicking, Jig dancing), but it’s almost over (Boo! Lips pouting, Shoulders slooping). This is the one month of the year that we celebrate all forms of adoption and all types of adoptive families. Every month is adoption (and infertility) awareness month here at Creating a Family, but while we celebrate all forms of adoption, in honor of National Adoption Month I want to draw particular attention to the “waiting children” right here in the US. Waiting kids are kids that wait, in other words, they’re the children in foster care whose parents have had their rights terminated. They are waiting for a real forever home with real forever parents.
There are two general types of adoption from foster care. You can foster a child that has been removed from their birth parents with the hope of being able to adopt this child if social services decide it is not in her best interest to be reunited with her biological family. This is called some variation of foster-to-adopt. But there are also children in foster care that you can adopt right away because social services has already determined that it is not in their interest to live with their birth family and has terminated their parent’s rights. These kids are ready and waiting for you right now.
Here are the numbers:
- 129,000 children are currently available for adoption in foster care
- 8 – average age
- 38% white, 32% black, 20% Hispanic
- 53% male, 47% female
- 89% receive ongoing monthly subsidies
But these children are so much more than numbers. They are real live beautiful children and if you don’t believe me, take a look at a few of them. The image of children damaged beyond repair simply isn’t the case for the majority of these kids. Yes, most come with the baggage of having been abused or neglected. While I don’t want to make light of this burden, I’d just like to point out that few of us escape life without some type of baggage. Also, help is available to help these children and to help you parent them. Check out these resources to learn more.
National Adoption Month is almost over, but there are still lots of ways to celebrate and partake of the festivities this holiday weekend. Let’s send it out with a bang.
Image credit: theirhistory
We have Adopted 5 children ages 5 to 9, 4 girls and a little boy. They are wonderful! We would not change a thing. Yes they came with baggage as you may call it. We adopted 2 girls two years ago 5 and 6, Than a year ago we adopted 2 girls and their brother. We put 2 family in to one. It’s working out real good. We put the 9 and 8 year old girls together and the two 7 year old girls in another bedroom and our little boy is five and he share a room with a 2 year old foster child. We have 8 children in are home. We started fostering when Gloria was 2 and ahalf and Johanna was 16 months. We went throw every thing with them, the visit with their mom, the parents right being taken, and the adoption. The other 3 we got when the parents right were being taken away, so we just waited the 6 months for the adoption. Now we are so Blessed with 7 wonderful children. Thank you
here’s hoping the “waiting” children don’t wait too long.
(ICLW)