The Florida Department of Children and Families is reporting that they’ve seen an increase in the number of children who are adopted out of the state’s foster care system. The department experienced an 8-percent increase, even as the number of children available for adoption is on the decline because they increased the amount of services to keep as many kids with their families.
In the past year, more than 3,200 kids who were in foster care got adopted. That’s about 200 more than the figure from the year before. And, Florida Department of Children and Families Spokeswoman Erin Gillespie says it’s partly because the department’s been focused on trying to find a forever family for certain groups of foster kids.
“We’ve really increased our focus on adopting teens, sibling groups, and children with special needs, which are the three hardest groups to place, and we’ve been very successful doing that," said Gillespie. "We just believe that for everyone of these children in foster care, it’s so important that if they’re not able to go home, that we find them a family that will stay with them forever."
Currently, there are about 750 foster care children who are available for adoption without an identified family. For more information, visit www.adoptionflorida.org.
