Concho Valley Foster Parent Association Celebrates National Adoption Day

SAN ANGELO, TX - National Adoption Day is a collective, national effort to raise awareness of more than 100,000 children in foster care waiting for permanent and loving families. Since its inception, this annual one day event has made the dreams of nearly 58,500 come true. In 2015, approximately 4,000 youth in foster care were adopted by their forever families over the 16th annual National Adoption Day celebration. The event takes place in 400 cities across the U.S., noted the event's website.

Tim Dickson is the President of the Concho Valley Foster Parent Association. He said, "This Friday, November 18, National Adoption Day for Tom Green County will be held at the Southland Baptist Church, located at 4300 Meadow Creek Trail. The ceremony will take place from 9 a.m. until noon,  is open to the public to attend, and light refreshments will also be served. For this event, each family will appear before the judge, who approves the adoption; it's not real formal; it's at the church versus a courtroom, so it's a little more of a relaxed atmosphere." 

Dickson said there were about 40 local families who took part in the event last year, and and the majority of them were through kinship-type situations.  

"Some of the parents had actually adopted earlier in the year, but chose to wait until NAD to celebrate," he added. "That is what we (his family) chose to do last year when we adopted our own daughter. Although she was available for adoption towards the end of last October, we just waited to celebrate the day with everyone else."

Prior to being approved for adopting a child, prospective adoptive parents have to go through an extremely rigorous process. There is a very detailed application, mandatory CPR and First Aid certification training, continuing education courses, testing for TB, background checks, FBI fingerprinting, home studies, and much more.

"The training to prepare them for adoption includes learning some of the things to watch out for because it's hard on the kids as well, no matter the age," said Dickson. "You learn about some of their triggers, as well as some of the problems they may run into." 

Dickson noted that most of these kids are fostered through Child Protective Services, and the average wait time is three years from the time that child is removed from the home until they are adopted. 

He said, "There's about 23,000 kids, nationally, who 'age out' every year without ever being adopted. Depending on the state, sometimes when they turn 18, and upon graduation, they are released out on their own. However, some states are upping the age to 21."

Over the last few years, more individuals from the Baby Boomer generation are finding themselves starting over, raising their grandchildren and putting off what they thought were going to be their "golden years'" of retirement. Even though there is little to no financial assistance to help with the child's care, they do it out of the kindness of their hearts and genuine concern for the welfare of the child(ren).

Dickson concluded, "If anyone wants to come and get more information, there will be plenty of different agency representatives, as well as other parents who have done this before to answer any questions." 

For anyone interested in joining the CVFPA, check the association out on its Facebook page, which includes more information and meeting times.