In what's been hailed as a "critical milestone," the state of Michigan has reached a settlement with a child advocacy group that filed suit seeking foster care reform on behalf of the state's 19,000 foster children.

"As part of the settlement... the Michigan Department of Human Services would add as many as 700 children's services employees in the next five years, require no more than 15 cases per foster care and adoption worker and hire 40 specialists to license about 7,000 foster homes with relatives who provide for the children."

The settlement also requires the state to employ 200 "permanency specialists," whose sole focus will be finding adoptive homes for eligible foster children. Source: Detroit News

Labels: foster_care, adoptive_families, reform

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Indiana's Safe Haven law has been in effect for eight years. During that time, the law has turned potentially tragic circumstances into happy endings.

"A young woman at a local university with an unplanned pregnancy....delivered the child and dropped her off at Parkview North Hospital. Within days, Natalie was adopted by Roy and Theresa Hammond of Fort Wayne."

Natalie is now four years old, and was given the honor of blowing out the candles at a party celebrating the Safe Haven law's eighth year. In 2007 Nebraska became the 50th U.S. state to enact a Safe Haven law. Source: Fort Wayne Journal Gazette

Labels: laws, safe_houses, unwanted_pregancy

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A budget shortfall in 2007 forced Florida lawmakers to trim $4 billion in state spending - cuts that resulted in the complete omission of new funding for adoption subsidies. On June 17, 2008, lawmakers agreed to transfer $21 million from state trust funds to adoption, foster care, and child protection programs.

"The [adoption] subsidies are the state's primary tool in encouraging parents to adopt foster children with special needs who may require extra health or psychological care.... Both the adoption and after-foster care programs would have collapsed this year without more money."

The money will help support adoptions that occurred during the last fiscal year, and will provide funding for the more than 3,000 adoptions the state is expecting to process in the coming year. Source: Tampa Tribune

Labels: special_needs, foster_care, financial_assistance

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Ray was born in 1952 and spent the first five years of his life in an orphanage. He remembers those years well, especially the adoption process - which was so different then.

"Back then, the Colorado State Home for Dependent and Neglected Children allowed prospective parents to 'check you out like a library book,'.... to see how a child would fit in with their family."

After several of those disappointing experiences, the orphanage matron awakened Ray from his bed one night and carried him to a counter. A couple was waiting, with a stocking cap for Ray's head and a stuffed dog for his arm. They swept him off the counter, took him home and have been "mom" and "dad" ever since.

Ray still has the stocking cap and the toy dog. Source: National Public Radio

Labels: adoptees, stories

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Having a child, whether by birth or adoption, means not only added joy but also added expenses. The costs of raising a child are estimated in the $125,000 to $250,000 dollar range - and that's not including the cost of the actual birth or adoption. But there are steps parents can take to ensure their finances are as healthy as their family.

"Ignore the Joneses: In today's world, it's easy to imagine your child falling far behind if he or she isn't playing a musical instrument, speaking a foreign language, playing daily with groups of friends and on a sports team before kindergarten. Still, the most important activities for children are priceless (and very budget-friendly): Exercising in the yard, reading library books together, drawing with crayons or sidewalk chalk...."

For adoptive parents, it important to plan for the cost of the adoption itself and to build a post-adoption budget. Know before you ever begin the adoption process what your financial picture will look like once you have a child. The fewer surprises, the less stress, and the more you can enjoy your growing family. Source: PR Web

Labels: financial_assistance, expenses, budgets

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Emma was just 2 1/2 weeks old when she had her first open heart surgery. But during the procedure, there weren't any parents pacing a waiting room floor, wondering about their little girl - the child had been placed for adoption, but then the adoptive mother had changed her mind. Enter a cardiac surgery nurse and his wife.

"For years, [Daniel Monroe] and his wife, Elizabeth, tried to have children. They spent $35,000 on in-vitro fertilization to conceive their son.... But Elizabeth Monroe always wanted a daughter.... Three months later, when Daniel called from work to tell her about the orphan baby, Elizabeth was certain her prayers had been answered."

The Monroes let their wishes be known to the birth mother's lawyer, and two days later they got the green light to proceed with the adoption. Emma will have to have other surgeries as she grows up, but she - and her forever family - will cross those bridges as they come to them. Source: The Ledger

Labels: special_needs, hope, love

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Since 1997, when the Adoption and Safe Families Act was passed, the adoption of foster care children has increased from 31,000 to 51,000 per year. While the adoption of special needs children is encouraged, financial subsidies are only available to adoptive parents if the child's biological parents qualified for welfare. Senator Susan Collins from Maine would like to change that.

"I am a cosponsor of the bipartisan Adoption Equality Act introduced by Senator Jay Rockefeller, D-W. Va., to correct this situation and ensure that no child adopted from foster care is denied federal support strictly on the basis of the birth family's income."

The Adoption Equality Act would also require states to reinvest surplus foster care dollars back into child abuse and neglect programs. Source: Seacoast Online

Labels: legislation, special_needs, financial_assistance

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On June 28, nearly 130 families from California's Santa Clarita Valley participated in "Walk Your Talk" charity walk and family festival. The annual event raises awareness and support for Child SHARE, a faith-based organization that helps families provide permanent homes for foster and adoptive children.

"The goal of the event was to raise awareness about the need for adoptive families, while giving thanks to the families of the Santa Clarita Valley who have brought foster children into their lives."

The mile-long walk took participants from the Canyon Country church to the intersection of Sierra Highway and Soledad Canyon Road. Among the participants were Jim and Michelle Riley, a couple whose recent adoption was prompted by a billboard advertisement they'd seen for Child SHARE. Source: The Signal

Labels: awareness, support, charity

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On a Saturday in June, the parking lot of Immanuel Baptist Church in Little Rock, Arkansas, was filled with Disney-themed rides and games. Celebrations like this are far from rare, but this event was unique in one special way: Most of the children who were enjoying the rides were available for adoption.

"In between rigging a game so that every participant could win, Pat Page, director of the Children and Family Services Division .... said the picnic is a way for the children to meet people interested in adoption in an informal setting."

A similar event in 2007 resulted in three or four adoptions, and organizers said they were hoping for more this year. In addition to encourage actual adoption, the event serves to raise awareness about the need for adoptive parents in Arkansas. Source: NWA News

Labels: awareness, encouragement, support

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Doug and Michelle have been foster parents for half a dozen children. Now, two of those children can call him dad.

"[Doug and Michelle] adopted Cameron from foster care when he was 2. In April, they adopted Breanna, who is 2 and has lived with them since she was 9 months old."

The transition took some time for Cameron, who used to call Doug "Daddy Doug." But now he's just "dad." Source: The Journal-News, Hamilton, OH

Labels: foster_families, foster_care

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A major new report on U.S. adoption systems and laws says that the system is failing children from minority ethnicities. According to the report, black children in foster care are less likely to be adopted than are children from other races.

"The laws require training for parents adopting from another country but offer no similar help for parents adopting an American child transracially on the grounds it would conflict with the ideal of a 'colorblind' society that does not take race into account. But the debate over how to make transracial adoption serve a colorblind idea, while reasonable, should be framed around the best interests of the child..."

While current law doesn't prevent a child from being placed with parents of a different race, it does require that state agencies first try to place children with people of the same ethnic background. If families who fit that profile aren't available this policy can cause significant delays in the child's adoption process. Source: Reuters

Labels: adoption_system, minorities, US

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When Lucia first started her adoption process, she didn't expect it to take 10 years. She stopped and started several times - when birth mothers changed their minds, and when she and her husband divorced. But her dream finally came true when she brought her adopted daughter home from Mexico.

"For [Lucia], having her daughter, particularly after so many failed adoption attempts, has made her all that much more appreciative of the gift she says she has been given... 'All the steps and everything I went through gave me a greater appreciation for the little girl I have now. Now that she's finally here, she's just the greatest treasure.'"

Lucia hopes her story will inspire those who are considering adoption, and will encourage those who have begun the process, but are still waiting for adoptions to be completed. Source: Richmond News

Labels: birth_story

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