Bright shining faces

Beaming with smiles

Does anybody know Lord

The pain in their miles?

The miles they’ve walked

From this place to there

In need of a home

Somebody to care.

A parent to love them,

A place that is “home”

Does anybody see them

Will they find families before they are grown?

Each has a story

Each have a voice

Each has a need

We have a choice!

Do we see them?

Do we hear their voice?

Are we to meet their need?

Will we make them our choice?

-Faye 11-1-12

November is National Adoption Awareness Month and starting today this blog will be trying to bring more awareness for the need for adoptive families, specifically in Alabama but across America also.  I will feature a new story series, “Another Woman’s Child” beginning tomorrow as well as relaying stories of adopted children and their parents.

Wherever you live there are children who need permanent homes with a family who loves them.  The numbers in Alabama from 2011, according to the local CBS website tell us that there are 6300 children in the Alabama foster care system, 590 of them are available for adoption.  Of that 590, 300 will be adopted by the foster families they are currently living with, leaving 290 more children who need permanent homes.

Some of those 290 are children who are considered “hard to place” for one reason or the other.  Sibling groups are harder to place when the goal is to keep them together and they certainly deserve that to say the least.  Children with special needs, be that physical, mental or emotional special needs are harder to place.  Sadly, the older a child is in the system they too are harder to find a permanent home for…so many people will only consider babies or young toddlers while older kids continue to age out of the system.

In Alabama the contact information for being a foster parent or adoptive parent is families4allkids@dhr.alabama.gov.  There are several non-profit and some for profit agencies that work with DHR to place children in foster families, both regular foster care and therapeutic foster care.  One of those agencies, the oldest social services agency in Birmingham, Alabama is Gateway.  You can contact them about becoming a foster parent by calling 205-510-2600 or via their website at www.gway.org.

The Heart Gallery, a non-profit group that puts the spotlight on children awaiting adoption in the United States by providing photos of these children will kick off National Adoption Awareness Month in Alabama today at an event featuring live entertainment, success stories, inspiring speakers and of course a showing of the photographs of Alabama’s kids at the Alabama School of Fine Arts in honor of Governor and Mrs. Robert Bentley.  The event is being held in the Dorothy Jemison Day Theatre and for ticket or other information contact The Heart Gallery at www.HeartGalleryAlabama.com or calling 205-445-1293.