A total of 28 children found forever homes recently. The city of Austin holds an annual Adoption Day in order to bring awareness to the adoption process and to help local children find homes and families. As part of the annual day of awareness, local adoption services held a ceremony in the Gardner Betts Juvenile Justice Center during which 28 children's adoption proceedings were concluded.
Reports indicate that approximately 6,300 children across Texas are awaiting adoption. Further, those reports indicate that approximately 200 of those children are in the Travis County, Austin area. Though this ceremony did not conclude the proceedings for all of those children, local officials and the adoptive families certainly had reason to celebrate for the 28 kids whose dreams were fulfilled and lives were changed.
One of the children who found a new home during the celebration was an 18-year-old teenager. His story is especially poignant in that, of the vast number of children across Texas awaiting adoption, approximately 42 percent according to state officials are between the ages of 10 and 17. Statistics show that the odds of older children being adopted are significantly lower than younger kids. Further, approximately 36 percent of children who go through the foster care system until age 18 and are not adopted end up homeless. Statistics show that even more of these kids turn to lives of crime.
The process of adopting a child can often be tedious and difficult for both the family and the child involved. Stories like this illustrate for all of us the hope and joy the results can bring to child and his or her new family. Anyone considering adoption should be certain they are informed as to the stipulations regarding the process outlined in Texas law.
Source: kvue.com, "28 children find forever families on Austin Adoption Day," Quita Culpepper, Nov. 1, 2012
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