Initiative helps place more children in permanent homes.
- GOVERNMENT
- Ben Gross
-
Wednesday, December 26, 2012
Over the past five years, the number of Maryland children in foster care has dropped 35 percent, from 10,330 in 2007 to 6,709 in 2012, according to a story in the Baltimore Sun. Theodore Dallas, secretary of the Department of Human Resources told The Sun a statewide initiative called Place Matters is largely responsible for reducing the number of children in foster care. The program fosters better collaboration between the court system, better data analysis and works with birth families earlier in the process to more efficiently dissolve the rights of the biological parents. Dallas describes the program as "a dramatic sea change in the way we do things." Children in the foster care program leave via one of four methods—adoption, returning…
Adoptive children and their parents can celebrate National Adoption Awareness Month at the annual Kids' Adoption Network Conference.
November is National Adoption Awareness Month. Nearly 60 percent of American families are touched by adoption in some way, according to The Adoption Institute. For those families, the month is a time to reflect on what adoption means to them. For adopted kids, adoptive parents, and prospective parents, the 15th Annual Kids' Adoption Network (K.A.N.) Conference, sponsored by the Center for Adoption Support and Education (C.A.S.E.) is a way to spend the day learning about the latest research and exploring new tools to help normalize the adoption experience. "When we speak about normalizing adoption," said Ellen Singer, adoption therapist and educator at C.A.S.E. "We mean that there are predictable, common joys and challenges to being …
