This is a sponsored post published by Our-Wolves-Den. This means that a commission has been made for publishing some of the article below. Despite the fact of being a sponsored post, Our-Wolves-Den fully stands behind adoption and if you read on you will learn why.
Adoption is a topic I hold very dear to my heart, not because I was adopted. But instead I have two children that I gave up for adoption. As dear to my heart as the topic is, it is also one that I have not shared with anyone outside of our immediate family. So this post is hard and very emotional for me, at the same time I feel that it should be something that everyone celebrates and understands.
A few years ago, I found myself in a situation where I had to make a difficult decision. I had to decide if I could keep my newborn baby girl or if I should decide to go through adoption. After a heart-wrenching and emotional struggle, I decided it was best for my baby girl to be loved by another couple. I was very lucky, as I got to pick the parents of my child’s new family. I got to learn the history of their lives, the pictures of family members, the stories that they shared in their file. And later on we have formed a wonderful connection, as I get to see them, get pictures, and long letters telling in detail all the facets of their lives.
Did you notice I began using the word “they & their”? That is because almost 2 years later I found myself in the same situation of choosing the best for my child. I gave birth to a beautiful baby boy- I knew immediately whom I wanted to have as parents for this blessed little boy. The adoptive parents had just began inquiring about adopting another sibling for my sweet little girl, when they got the news. They were going to become parents again to the biological brother of their daughter. To say that this was fate, just really doesn’t describe it.
I have since had children since those blessings, but under circumstances where I didn’t need to make the very hard decision. While it I am heart-broken that I had to make these decisions, I know that it was what was best for them. I feel adoption at any age has to be heart-breaking for everyone involved, and there are so many children that need those “forever-homes”. Regardless of the circumstances or the ages of the children- ALL children deserve the very best one can give. ALL children deserve the most love that they can receive. ALL children deserve a “forever-family”!
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November is National Adoption Month and I’m reaching out on behalf of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, AdoptUSKids, and the Ad Council to ask for your help in spreading the word about a new PSA campaign that encourages prospective parents to adopt older youth from foster care.
The theme for National Adoption Month is, “We Never Outgrow the Need for Family.” That’s because older children and youth still have many big milestones in their life they need a family for.
There are 415,000 children in the U.S. foster care system and 108,000 are waiting to be adopted. AdoptUSKids’ maintains a national photo listing service for children waiting to be adopted. Since the project launched in 2002, more than 25,000 children who were once photo listed on adoptuskids.org have been adopted and nearly 38,000 families have registered to adopt through the website. Nevertheless, older youth aredisproportionately represented – approximately 41 percent of children and youth photo listed on adoptuskids.org are between 15 and 18 years old, but only 17 percent of those adopted have been in this age group.
Older youth and teens have lower adoption rates than younger children, and they often wait longer to be adopted. But no matter their age, all kids need a supportive, loving home and the teenage years are a critical period for growth. The new TV PSAs, which were created for the campaign probono, portray a dad giving advice to his teenage daughter after her first breakup, and a mom giving her son a haircut at home. The humorous, lighthearted scenarios aim to overcome fears adoptive parents may have regarding their own imperfections. The PSAs end with the tagline, “You don’t have to be perfect to be a perfect parent,” reassuring prospective parents that even if they are not ‘perfect’, they have the ability to provide the stability and security that older youth in foster care need and deserve.
The PSAs direct audiences to visit adoptuskids.org or to call 1-888-200-4005 (English) or 1-877-236-7831 (Spanish) to receive the latest information about the foster care system and the adoption process.
For more information about adoption, or about becoming an adoptive parent to a child from foster care, please visit www.adoptuskids.org or visit the campaign’s communities on Facebook and Twitter.
Why Older Youth?
- All of us – and that includes older youth in foster care who are waiting to be adopted – need and want families throughout life to support us and to share important life events. Learning to drive a car, applying for higher education, and birthday and holiday celebrations are just a few examples of the times in life we need and want to share with family.
- Older youth are overrepresented in the foster care population, as they generally wait longer to be adopted, and have lower overalladoption rates.
- On adoptuskids.org, roughly 41 percent of the children and youth actively photolisted are between the ages of 15 and 18 years old. About 58 percent are male. (Most recent stats as of May 31, 2015)
- Families who adopt older youth, are providing them with the support and stability of a family during a critical period of normal adolescent concerns and additional self-identity issues.
Some of the Misperceptions about Adoption from Foster Care:
- Adoption is expensive. Unlike the private adoption of an infant or adopting internationally, there are virtually no costs associated withadoption from the US child welfare system. In addition, the vast majority of youth adopted from foster care are also eligible for monthlyadoption assistance up to the level of the foster care rate.
- You have to be married. You do not have to be married to adopt in most states. Many children have been very successfully adoptedby single parents. Single-parent families accounted for 29 percent of all adoptions from foster care in 2014 (AFCARS).
- You have to have a college degree. Having a high school diploma or college education is not required. What is important is that you are stable, flexible, and compassionate, and that you have a good sense of humor. Most importantly, you must have the support and commitment to raise a child and to be there for him throughout his life.
- You have to own a home and each child has to have their own room. You can rent your home or live in an apartment or a mobile home so long as your living situation is a stable one.
- You have to be of child-bearing age to adopt. Experienced parents and empty-nesters are encouraged to adopt. In most instances, you’re eligible to adopt regardless of age, income, marital status or sexual orientation.
- You can only adopt a child who is the same race and ethnicity as you. Federal law prohibits the delay or denial of an adoptive placement based on the race or ethnicity of a child in U.S. foster care and the prospective parent or parents who are seeking to adoptthem. The only exception to this law is the adoption of Native American children where special considerations apply.
- You can’t adopt if you’re in the military. Military families stationed overseas and within the U.S. are eligible to adopt children from the U.S. foster care system.