Foster Care Adoption Facts

The Following information was provided by Dave Thomas Foundation For Adoption

Children enter foster care through no faults of their own. They are permanently removed from their homes as victims of child abuse, neglect or abandonment.

  • More than 114,000 children in foster care are available for adoption. Their birth parents’ legal rights have been permanently terminated and they are left without families.
  • More than half of these children are 8 years of age or older.
  • They often move three or more times in foster care and frequently are separated from siblings.
  • Any one of these children could wait up to five years or more to be adopted. Five years is a lifetime to a child.
  • Tens of thousands of children available for adoption turn 18 and leave the system without families each year.
  • Every child is adoptable. All children deserve the chance to grow up in safe, loving, permanent homes.
  • Foster care adoption is affordable. Most child welfare agencies cover the necessary costs; thousands of employers offer financial reimbursement and paid leave for adoption; and tax credits are available to most families.
  • Post-adoption counseling, resources and subsidies are available.
  • Generating public awareness is the first step to finding forever families for children waiting in foster care.