March 29, 2024

Iowa KidsNet celebrates National Adoption Month

Iowa KidsNet is proud to join child welfare advocates and families across the country in celebrating November’s National Adoption Month, a time to raise awareness for the more than 104,000 children in the United States who are waiting to be adopted from foster care and to recognize the people who make a difference in their lives.

“Every child and teen deserves to have a forever family, a permanent connection to a caring and supportive adult,” said Theresa Lewis, project director for Iowa KidsNet. “This November, we encourage more Iowans to consider becoming foster or adoptive parents, especially for older youth, or to get involved in other ways.”

Thanks to the many Iowans who already serve as foster and/or adoptive parents, as caregivers and in other supporting roles, many children and teens are safely reunited with their parents, cared for by relatives or adopted into loving forever homes. However, Lewis said there aren’t enough adoptive families to keep more than 26,000 teens nationwide from aging out of the foster care system each year without permanent family connections.

“Children and teens enter the foster care system through no fault of their own, and they’re no different than other youth you know, except they shoulder the worries of where they will live next month, where their siblings are and how to adjust to new schools, homes and environments,” Lewis said. “More than anything, they need the encouragement, love and trust of a family who will provide a stable home and help them succeed.”

More foster adoptive homes are also needed for sibling groups and children with special needs or behaviors, who may have experienced abuse or neglect. There is also a need for more African American and Latino families to become foster or adoptive parents.

For more information on post-adoption support, contact Kara Magnison at 319-337-4523.