Let’s provide permanent homes for more of Oregon’s children
Published 4:51 am Friday, November 20, 2015
Each year, November is recognized as National Adoption Awareness Month. This year the nation will focus on the adoption of older youth from foster care. In the United States today, there are more than 108,000 foster children waiting to be adopted. Nearly 45 percent of these waiting children are age nine or older. For many, age creates challenges in finding them a loving, permanent home.
The statistics are similar in Oregon. Child welfare workers find it difficult to find foster placements and adoptive homes for older youth. In 2014, 836 children in foster care were adopted. More than 75 percent of the adoptions were children 8 years old and younger. Only 33 of those adoptions were for youth older than age 14.
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Studies show that youth who are adopted from foster care are more likely to finish high school, go to college and be more emotionally secure than their peers who remain in, or age out of foster care. That’s why finding permanent, loving families for these children and youth is so important. Adoptive parents, just like any other parents, provide the essential guidance children need to successfully navigate a strong and successful path to adulthood.
This November, we want to stress the importance of creating lifelong connections for young people, before they age out of foster care. Like all youth, children who experience foster care need stability and support as they age into adulthood and throughout their lives. Please ask yourself if you have room in your home and heart for a foster youth. To learn more about foster care adoptions please call 1-800-331-0503 or visit Oregon DHS, Adoption Services: http://www.oregon.gov/dhs/children/adoption/pages/index.aspx.
Lois Day, Oregon Child Welfare Director
Salem