Two years ago, Indiana introduced a new adoption marketing program that resulted in a dramatic increase in adoptions of troubled children. Now the state intends to add another $4 million program to its existing efforts.

"The new project, focused on finding permanent homes for thousands of Hoosier children taken from their parents by the department and left adrift in foster care, emphasizes reaching out to minority parents through churches and community groups. It is part of an effort to speed up the process of finding safe, permanent homes for children who have been taken from their parents due to neglect or abuse and who cannot return home."

One of the goals of this new campaign is to decrease the number of foster care children who, when they turn 18, "age out" of the system without having a permanent home. Read more at IndyStart.com.

Private schools can help teens in a variety of ways that public schools aren't equipped to. Find the best private school for you and your family at BoardingSchoolsInfo.com.

Labels: awareness, troubled_children, permanent_adoptive_homes

Posted By: Aspen Education Group 0 Comments

The Dave Thomas Foundation has awarded a generous grant to the Children's Home of the Wyoming Conference. The grant will allow staffer Linda Pipkin to devote herself full-time to the business of finding adoptive parents for the children in the home.

"She'll look first at foster families who have grown close to a child in their home. Maybe adoption is a possibility? She'll also determine which adults may have been significant in a child's life at one point or another. Perhaps those adults are able to commit to adopting the child. Actively recruiting families, she hopes, will result in more stable situations for those 89 children who desperately need stability and permanency in their lives."

The grant comes from a program called Wendy's Wonderful Kids. The program's specific vision is to help foster care and adoption agencies hire full-time recruiters who can devote all their time to matching children with adoptive families.

Therapeutic boarding schools offer stability and structure for troubled teens. Learn more at www.therapeuticboardingschool.com.

Labels: foster_families, foster_care, permanent_adoptive_homes

Posted By: Aspen Education Group 0 Comments

The state of Iowa served over 11,500 kids last year in the Iowa foster care system. This year, the Department of Human Services wants and increased focus on foster care and adoption, and so, they've embarked on new initiative called KidsNet.

"This new network consists of almost a dozen agencies. Four Oaks in Cedar Rapids is the lead agency in this new effort to recruit and retain resource families who are interested in foster care and adoption of Iowa children."

There are currently over 5,000 children in Iowa that need either a foster or permanent adoptive home. Read more at IowaKidsNet.com.

Labels: foster_care, adoptive_parents, permanent_adoptive_homes

Posted By: Aspen Education Group 0 Comments