Vernon County encourages adoption of children waiting in foster care

All children deserve a loving, permanent home. That is the motivation behind Vernon County Children's Division joining the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption to celebrate National Adoption Awareness Month in a local campaign to encourage families throughout Vernon County to open their hearts and homes to children in foster care waiting to be adopted.

Today, more than 129,000 children in the U.S. foster care system are available for adoption.

That figure includes children in the State of Missouri who are growing up without a permanent family of their own. They entered foster care through no fault of their own, as victims of child abuse, neglect or abandonment and their parents' legal rights have been terminated.

Each year, more children enter the system than are adopted. The typical child who has been freed for adoption is at least 9 years old, moves three or more times in foster care, may have been separated from siblings, and will wait five years or more to be adopted. Tragically, more than 26,000 will never be adopted and leave the system at age 18 without a family.

National Adoption Awareness Month, celebrated annually since 1990, works to increase the number of families willing to consider foster care adoption and celebrates the unique joys of creating families through foster care adoption.

"We believe every child deserves a permanent home and that is why we are actively encouraging people in this community to consider foster care adoption." "Every child deserves a family," said Rita Soronen, executive director of the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption. "There is a critical need for Americans to become aware and involved.

Everyone can make a difference -- either by adopting a child from foster care or by supporting the work of agencies finding forever families for waiting children." For more information about adopting a waiting child in Vernon County, call Vernon County Children's Division at (417) 448-1100 or order the free booklet "A Child is Waiting: A Step-by- Step Guise to Adoption" by visiting www.Dave

ThomasFoundationforAdoetion.org or calling 800- ASK-DTFA.