During 2011, 26000 children aged out of the US Foster Care system (link: http://waysandmeans.house.gov/uploadedfiles/kelly_rosati_testimony22713.pdf )
Children who age out of
Foster Care lack a permanent family support network, lasting a lifetime in far
too many cases. 80% of children who age out of foster care are destined to
"fail" as adults. These individuals are more
likely to live homeless, commit crimes or end up in prison than their
counterparts who find family permanence through adoption.
Ever since I was a young child, I knew I wanted to build a family through
Foster-adoption. I saw documentaries, weekly local news segments, and knew
families formed through adoption while I was growing up. I became a single Mom
to my biological child in my mid-20s and things weren't easy, but I never gave
up on my dream to adopt.
Finding my twins through the Massachusetts Adoption Resource Exchange, Inc.
website was the realization of my longtime dream. I saw their
trachs, read some about their development and knew they would be considered
"difficult to adopt"- and most at-risk to age-out if they were not
connected with a family before age 5. Age 5 is the transition year where kids
go from being "sought" to being "unlikely to be adopted"-
odds decrease again at about age 10. I knew that medical concerns such as my
twins' made them less likely to find a forever family- and my heart opened to
the possibility that these two were "my children".
It seems like ancient history now but I was matched with Adrien &
Tavish in late February of 2007 and learned all about them at a Disclosure
Meeting on March 9. The team was happy that I was familiar with trachs (through
my teaching career) and that the information they gave me did not frighten me
off. I met them soon after the meeting and held my son in my arms as he
snuggled into me to sleep while my daughter watched & played nearby. That
first day cemented their place in my heart and they arrived home in June &
have been thriving & running me ragged since.
The number of children living in foster care in FY2011 is estimated at
about 401,000. The majority of these children are in transitional placements-
where they live could change as soon as 10 days from any given day. Pause for a
moment and imagine the level of instability you might feel if you could be
moved 10 days from now and were powerless to prevent it or decide where it is
you would go next.
As of the close of FY 2011, just over 104,000 of these children are living
in foster care awaiting adoption. The rights of their birth parents have been
terminated, they live in transitional placements, and they wait. 104,000
children without permanent parents continue to wait for a family to commit to
them. What are YOU waiting for?
