Basekamp Laundry Mountain

Have YOU ever thought about adoption from foster care? It isn’t always easy but I highly recommend it to anyone who is considering adoption. There are challenges with the children, the workers, the process and within our own lives. BUT it is the single most rewarding thing you can do if it is in your heart to become a parent through adoption.

The US Department of Health and Human Services compiles statistics on foster care and foster adoption for every calendar year. Last year’s data indicates that 115,000 children were waiting in foster care to be adopted as of the last day of Fiscal Year 2009  http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/stats_research/afcars/trends.htm . Although 57,000 children were adopted during FY 2009, nearly TWICE that many live in a non-permanent placement awaiting placement with their forever Mom and Dad.

Children who grow up in foster care suffer repeated upheaval of their home-base & other significant losses. When these children age out of foster care, even if they are dedicated enough to go to college, rarely have a place to call home for Thanksgiving break or a winter holiday. Is it any wonder that the statistics show that greater than 3/4 of them “fail” in future life challenges- going to prison or dying young? Recently,  former foster children have overtaken war veterans as the single largest population in homeless shelters in the State of California.

If it is in your heart to foster a child, or to pursue adoption through foster care, please go to http://www.adoptuskids.org and click on the link to find information on foster-adoption in your State. “You don’t have to be perfect to be a perfect parent.”