May marks Foster Care Awareness month, which according to childwelfare.gov was created to “raise awareness of issues related to foster care and acknowledge the parents, family members, foster parents, child welfare and related professionals, mentors, policy makers, and other members of the community who help children and youth in foster care find permanent homes and connections.”
In conversations about adoption, foster care often gets neglected, but it is a way that many become parents, while some families choose to remain foster care providers to help children as they work for reunification or to find permanent homes and families.
What is Foster Care?
Foster care is a system that has been established to help place minors either permanently or for an amount of time who are in need of care. Foster care is typically something that is navigated through the government, a social service, or even an adoption agency in some circumstances. Children in need of a home are placed in either a group home, with a state-certified foster parent, or a family member who has been approved to take a child in. The goal of foster care is parent reunification, but in some instances this isn’t possible.
According to fosteringfamiliestoday.com, around 49% of children are reunited with their families. In order to qualify to be reunited, families have to go through certain steps and meet guidelines that are created by the government or social services to choose what safety measures must be followed for that to occur. Though reunification is important, the overall goal of foster care, it can be a difficult transition for children in the system. Read more about that here.
Why Is it Important to Raise Awareness about Foster Care?
It is important to not only raise awareness about the number of children in the system, but also the adults that work to provide safe homes and services. Thanks to more awareness, in 2023, there were fewer children in foster care than in years past. The Imprint notes that “there were 355,032 youth in traditional foster care settings as of the spring of 2023, a 7% decrease from the 2022 data collected through our project, and it is 9% lower than the federal count for 2021.” Though these numbers appear to be declining, the number of children in foster care in the United States is still a staggering statistic.
What Should You do if you are Seeking to Adopt Through Foster Care
If you are seeking to adopt through foster care, you should check with your state to see what guidelines are necessary. You will need to hold a foster care license and will likely have to complete many of the steps that come with an adoption home study. You will likely have to undergo training and complete criminal and child service background checks. If you are curious about adoption through foster care, reach out to Adoption Choice, Inc. to get your questions answered. For more resources for National Foster Care Awareness, click here.