Happy National Adoption Awareness Month! I primarily work on private adoptions, but today I want to highlight foster care adoption.

As of the end of 2021, there were an estimated 114,000 children in the US foster care system that are eligible for adoption, meaning a court has already determined that reuniting them with biological family is unfortunately not an option. In California alone, there are an estimated 15,000 children eligible for adoption. [Source: Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, U.S. Children’s Bureau, Administration for Children, Youth and Families.]

These are wonderful kids who are in the foster care system through no fault of their own and are looking for their forever families. Adoption through foster care is typically free (or comes with minimal cost).

I would love to see these numbers go down! If you might be interested in learning more, a couple of good place to start is AdoptUsKids.org.