November is National Adoption Month

October 30, 2020

Photo:Childwelfare.gov

                                               

Mansfield, OH—In Richland County, there are six youths in foster care who face a future without stable, permanent and caring families to guide them into adulthood, yet studies show that having a close relationship with a caring adult is critical at every age. 

At any given time, more than 16,000 children in Ohio are being cared for through the foster care system. While most of these children will be eventually reunited with their biological family members, more than 2,000 are waiting to be adopted through Ohio foster care adoption at any time. In Richland County there are six youths You don’t need to be rich, married, or under 40. What you do need is 100% heart to adopt in Ohio.

This year, National Adoption Month’s theme is “Engage Youth: Listen and Learn.” The U.S. Children’s Bureau and its partners will share resources on how to engage youth to participate in their own case planning—an empowering practice that can improve outcomes and lead to greater opportunities for success in their lives. 

Older youth are much less likely to be adopted than younger children, and older youth themselves are often reluctant to pursue adoption, opting instead to prepare for independent living. Yet studies have shown that having a close relationship with a caring adult is key to improving their opportunities for success.

The U.S. Children’s Bureau urges all communities to remain steadfast in their commitment to achieving permanency for older youth, even when they appear resistant or hesitant to consider their options. 

National Adoption Month is recognized annually in November throughout the nation as a time to raise awareness about the urgent need for adoptive families for children and youth in foster care. 

Richland County Children Services believes every child deserves a home. When a child cannot remain with their birth family, adoption provides that permanent family. Through our adoption services we create families by placing children in their forever homes.

RCCS adoption services are provided in conjunction with our foster program. Any family wishing to adopt a child must first become a foster family. Through this system, we are able to screen, train and support prospective adoptive parents and ultimately match them with a child in need of a safe and nurturing home. Many of our foster families adopt their foster children. Other families become foster parents solely in anticipation of adopting a child. Whichever path you take, adoption is a joyous way to create a permanent parent/child relationship.                                                                                          

If you are ready to provide a child with a forever home, please contact Richland County Children Services today about our foster/adoptive parent program. Please call 419-774-4100 for more information and to start the process visit  /foster-adoption

                                                  

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