Does the smoke alarm go off when you cook? Do you wear plaid pants with striped shirts? Tell jokes, but forget the punch line? Never sent or received a text message?
If you answered "yes" to any of the above questions, you may have what it takes to adopt a child from foster care. Children don't need perfection, they just need parents.
Simply belonging to a family unit that provides love, patience and guidance can make all the difference in the rest of a foster child's life. There are thousands of children in foster care who would love to live with your imperfections.
More than 30,000 children in Florida are in foster care. More than 8,000 of these children are available for adoption and just waiting for a family. Many have spent most of their lives in foster care and have moved within the child welfare system more times than they care to remember. These are very real children who desperately need families of their own.
Because the public is so often unaware of these kids and their needs, we would like to draw special attention to our waiting children during November's National Adoption Awareness Month in the hope that we can unite many of these young people with permanent, adoptive parents.
These waiting children come from a variety of backgrounds. Many times they are referred to as "special needs" children. Special needs means different things to different people. With foster children, the term is used to classify children who are difficult to place with a family. A child who is part of a sibling group is considered special needs. Most adoptive families only want to adopt one child at a time. It is more difficult to find a family to adopt a sibling group who wants to remain together.
Any adolescent or teenager is considered special needs. Most people who consider adoption do not start by saying they want to adopt a teenager. However, adolescents and teenagers desperately need families, too. Can you imagine living under the care of the state with foster families, then turning 18 and be expected to go out on your own and live a healthy, happy life?
Advocates from organizations such as Kinship4Kids are working to find permanent families for these deserving children, families willing to help them through life's challenges and to provide a trusting relationship to last a lifetime. Kinship4Kids is working to prove that there is no such thing as an unadoptable child.
To help encourage adoption, the state provides incentives to adoptive parents. There are tax credits available, and in some cases, the state provides monthly financial support to adoptive parents. Additionally, many children are provided with medical coverage and state college assistance.
Nearly 40 percent of American adults have considered adopting a child, according to the National Adoption Attitudes Survey. If just one in 500 of these adults did adopt, every waiting child in foster care would have a permanent family.
Have you ever considered adoption? If you are at least 21 years old, married, single, divorced, widowed, with or without children, a renter or homeowner, of modest means or wealthy and willing to open your heart and your home to a child in waiting, pass a background check and fulfill training requirements, you can adopt.
If you cannot welcome a child into your home, but would like to help our waiting children in Florida find a family or provide Christmas for a waiting child, please mail your tax-deductible contribution to Kinship4Kids, P.O. Box 5450, Spring Hill, FL 34611. For information, contact Kathy Burke at 352-683-9299 or go to www.Kinship4Kids.com.
Kathy Burke is president of Kinship4Kids in Spring Hill.
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