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Perhaps nowhere is the pain of the world more evident than in the children who do not have families. The right to grow up in a home where you belong and are cared for is basic and universal. Yet recent trends in the United States have led to a fifty percent increase in the number of children entering foster care in just a four-year period.* This tragic and dangerous situation calls out for national response on many different levels. One small piece of the solution is for single adults and couples to consider adoption of children in foster care.** These children, who may range in age from months up to mid-teens, are often called "children with special needs." They have usually experienced special suffering, and from that have special insight and gifts as well as special problems. To parent children with this background is to open oneself to an intense journey full of surprises. This article tells what it's like to raise older adopted children. The stories and reflections have been written by members of a parent support group in New York City called Adoptive Families of Older Children and the New York City-based adoption agency You Gotta Believe! the Older Child Adoption & Permanency Movement Inc. The stories reflect the diversity of these groups, which includes single parents and couples, different racial, ethnic and religious backgrounds. What unites them is the experience of adopting such a child, and their need for support from others in living out their commitment. We would appreciate any and all feedback on these stories. You can e-mail, phone or write us.
* "Study Confirms Some Fears on U.S. Children," The New York Times, April 12, 1993, pp. A1, 13. From 1987 to 1991 the number of children entering foster care jumped from 300,000 to 460,000. ** Foster care parents also perform invaluable service. To provide for children while they are waiting either to be freed for adoption or to be returned to their birthparents is another important piece of the solution. |
