News Release
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, July 15, 2004 |
Contact: ACF Press Office
(202) 401-9215 |
HHS Launches New Campaign to Encourage Adoption of Children From Foster Care
Nearly one-quarter of children in foster care are waiting for adoptive families
With a significant number of children in the U.S. foster care system in need of permanent loving homes, HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson today announced a new national public service advertising (PSA) campaign to increase public awareness and encourage adoption of children from the foster care system.
The new ad campaign is part of HHS' five-year, multi-faceted initiative called The Collaboration to AdoptUSKids, focused on recruiting new families for the more than 129,000 children in foster care waiting to be adopted. The PSAs will highlight the adoption of older children (ages 8-17), who comprise 53 percent of children in foster care who are in need of permanent homes. Of that number, 44 percent are African American.
"All children need loving families," Secretary Thompson said. "Every time a waiting child finds a supportive, permanent home, it helps not only the child, but the family as well. Our nation has a responsibility to ensure that all children find a permanent home that provides the support they need to realize their full potential."
Secretary Thompson said the new PSA campaign, Answering the Call: A National Campaign to Encourage Adoption of Children from Foster Care, will educate adults about the adoption process and available assistance. The Administration for Children and Families (ACF), the HHS agency that oversees the federal foster care and adoption programs, has oversight of the campaign.
"Children need families not only while growing up, but throughout their entire lifetimes," said Assistant Secretary for Children and Families Wade F. Horn, Ph.D. "There are many people who would make really terrific adoptive parents but have not thought about it. With this campaign, we're trying to inspire and motivate more people to consider adoption as an option for themselves and their families."
Research shows that foster children who are not placed in permanent homes are less likely to graduate from high school and are at greater risk for homelessness, jail time and reliance on welfare.
Dr. Horn noted that there are many resources available to help prospective adoptive parents educate themselves about adoption and the benefits of providing a home for a child from foster care. For example, adoptive parents may be eligible to receive support in the form of training, adoption subsidies and Medicaid. And, in 2003, a new $10,000 tax credit went into effect benefiting parents who adopt a child with special needs. "We want prospective parents to know that we've streamlined the adoption process to make it easier and of little or no cost for those who qualify," said Horn.
The PSAs were developed in cooperation with the Ad Council, the country's leading source of public service advertising campaigns, and the Collaboration to AdoptUSkids. The Ad Council began working with the ACF on this campaign in May 2003.
Designed for all media, the new campaign issues a national call-to-action for families who are considering adopting a child from foster care. It addresses prospective parents' anxieties and encourages individuals to realize that you don't have to be perfect to be an excellent adoptive parent. The PSAs, created pro bono by New York agency kirshenbaum bond+partners through the Ad Council, show typical parents as every day heroes to children they have adopted from foster care. The PSAs will run in donated advertising time and space around the country and may also be seen at the campaign's Web site, www.AdoptUSKids.org.
The campaign's Web site was launched in July 2002, to help link children in foster care with potential adoptive families across the country. The site features photographs and biographies of almost 7,000 children in foster care and directs interested families to the appropriate state agency for information about specific children. Already more than 3,000 children featured on the site have been placed with adoptive families.
The Collaboration to AdoptUSkids is a multi-faceted, five-year, federally funded project the goal of which is the recruitment and retention of foster and adoptive families for children in the foster care system. The AdoptUSkids project is managed by the Adoption Exchange Association (AEA) based in Baltimore, Md., through a cooperative agreement with ACF's Children's Bureau.
Several principal partner organizations support the AdoptUSKids initiative, including the Adoption Exchange in Colorado, Holt International Children's Services, the Northwest Adoption Exchange and the University of Texas at Austin.
For more information about becoming an adoptive parent to a child from foster care, please visit www.AdoptUSKids.org or call toll-free at 1-888-200-4005.
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Note: All HHS press releases, fact sheets and other press materials are available at http://www.hhs.gov/news.
Last Revised: July 15, 2004
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