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National Adoption Awareness |
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Every child deserves a permanent family to keep them safe, nurture them and help them heal. November is National Adoption Awareness Month. On any given day 513,000 children reside in the U.S. foster care system as a result of abuse and neglect; 114,000 of those children are available for adoption. In Los Angeles County there are 900 children waiting for an adoptive family. Each year more children become available for adoption than are adopted. Half of the children who are adopted from foster care are nearly nine years old, and many of them spend five years or more waiting to be adopted. Every year, approximately 20,000 children in foster care turn 18 and age out of the public child welfare system without a permanent family to call their own. Five Acres is committed to helping find permanent, adoptive homes for children. Since receiving our adoption license in 2000 we have provided 32 children with permanent families, through adoption. Thus, we have assisted 20 families in adding to their family through adoption. People make the decision to add to their family through adopting for various reasons, and each family’s journey is unique. All of the family’s we serve have ongoing support through the Five Acres Adoption Program. We are available to support adoptive families through the adoption process as well as long after the adoption has finalized because the process of nurturing relationships continue. Therefore, Five Acres not only helps families adopt through our foster to adopt program but also provides ongoing support to families through services such as our Adoption Mental Health Clinic and our Adoption Promotion Support Services (APSS) program. To honor National Adoption Day on November 17th courts across the county will finalize thousands of adoptions. If you are considering adding to your family through adoption please contact Marianne Guilfoyle M.S.W., Adoption Supervisor at 626-966-5110 ext. 220 or Hilda Boulware, Intake and Certification Coordinator at 626-246-1740.
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