Adoption STAR has a main office in Erie County. So we thought it would be nice to provide a report on how our county is doing regarding facilitating adoption of older children.
Currently in Erie County there are currently approximately 780 children in foster care and 247 of those children available for adoption. In 2013, Erie County Department of Social Services’ staff has facilitated approximately 80 adoption finalizations, with 60 additional children looking forward to seeing their adoption finalizations scheduled by Erie County Family Court. In 2012, 139 adoptions were finalized in Erie County.
Erie County, along with many other counties around the country, is in need of supportive foster families for hundreds of children in need of such care. Many of these children are in foster care because they have been abused, neglected, abandoned, or harmed, or because their parents were unable or unwilling to care for them. In these situations, Family Court may terminate the parental rights of the parents, freeing the child for adoption.
The preferable path for children in foster care is to have their first placement be their last, in order to establish stability and continuity in the child’s life.
Research shows that children who do not have stable and permanent homes are at a higher risk for homelessness, unemployment, unexpected pregnancy, and incarceration.
Nationwide, nearly 30,000 children grow up and leave the system each year without the love and stability that one needs to grow and thrive.
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