FEATURE STORY JANUARY 2015 - FINDING FOREVER FAMILIES

(MUSIC PLAYS) 

Deborah Goodman
Adoption Field Administrator

Deborah Goodman: In state fiscal year 2014 we finalized 1,269 adoptions, and in the federal fiscal year which goes from September... well, actually October 1st of a year until September 30th, we finalized 1,362 adoptions. There are over 2,000 children with the goal of adoption which means there has been a decision made that we will be moving forward towards adoption. The majority of those children are already in homes that are going to adopt them. That means they are foster parents, relatives, folks who had some relationship with the children prior to coming into care. They have already made the decision that they're going to adopt. That's usually about 80% of those adoptions, and that leaves us with 20% that we're actually out there trying to find adoptive families willing to step up and become the adoptive resource.

The newest campaign that we have is the Adopt Oklahoma Kids. It is where we are featuring children who are waiting for adoption on our DHS website. There's a picture of the children. There's profiles of the children. In addition, we will have video clips of some of those children. We just kind of make it real about who the children are in Oklahoma who are waiting for adoption. 

In addition, we have been utilizing social media, the Communications Department here within DHS has assisted us. We are featuring children on our DHS facebook page and Twitter. So, those are some of the newer resources we have been using this year to spread the word more about the need for adoptive families and just who are the children who are out there waiting for an adoptive family. 

I believe that there are still those myths out there that you don't know what kind of child you will get if you adopt, that they'll be so different than the children that you may give birth to, and so I think that becomes one of the reasons families become somewhat bashful. Now, we have determined that when families are able to see who those children are, meet them in some relaxed setting, that they realize that many of the children that have been in the DHS Child Welfare system are just regular children but have experienced some trauma, some frustrations, some situations not on their own recourse but as a result of becoming part of the Child Welfare system. But, once families are able to make contact with children, then that begins to break down that myth. 

Each year we set a goal within the adoption unit of how many adoptions we would like to see take place every year. We have not set our finalized goal yet for this year, but we will be doing so within the next couple of weeks. When we set that goal we realize that we don't have enough adoptive families for all of those children. As I stated earlier, we probably have enough for about 80% of the kids that have a goal of adoption. 

We have a number of sibling groups - sibling groups from two to six and even seven that we're looking for adoptive families. We have a number of older children who have been in the DHS system for quite some time. Because they have been in the DHS system for awhile, families sometimes are reluctant, so it takes more of an effort for us to help present the children in such a way that families are willing to look at them and take a chance on considering them to be a part of their family. 

In addition, we're looking for minority families. We have a growing number of Native-American children. We're working with the tribes across the state. We also have a growing number of African-American children who are waiting for adoptive families. We have reached out to One Church, One Child of Oklahoma whose focus is to look for African-American families. This is part of our year-long recruitment effort to continually find families for the children that we have that are waiting. 

We believe that DHS... we try to be the best parents that we can to substitute when the biological parents cannot, but we believe that every child that comes into the Child Welfare system, they really need permanent families, and families who can really take on the role or being a true family. So, it's a continuous responsibility of all of our staff to always be about the business of recruiting for families. 

So, it's not just a November day. November is pretty much our celebration of finalized adoptions, but we have to search for families, assist them in the process from inquiry through the home assessment so that they can become an approved family. Then to go on to, once that match is made, we will work with that family for sometimes up to six months or longer until we're able to finalize that adoption. It's a continuous process from us from the beginning to the end. 

The Adoption Unit was reorganized about 15 years ago, and probably as a result of that our roles changed considerably. We take on the role of a recruiter. We help assist families in the process. We also consult with the permanency planning staff to try to help move those children that potentially may be available for adoption, and then we culminate with the finalization of adoption. So, our role is continuous, and every adoption worker would be involved in some phase of this work all of the time. 

We have a great number of staff. There's probably over a hundred folks out there who are adoption workers, and they're spread out covering the entire state. It's a continuous role that we have to continually work to try to find families and spread the word that we have the need. 

But Oklahoma families are great. They've been stepping up to the call for these children. I wore two pins today. One of them says, "Celebrate Children", and the other is a state of Oklahoma pin. I think that I would like the viewers to know that we have some great families here in Oklahoma. They have shown that in the past. I am convinced that even though we may have in the last 15 years placed over 15,000 children, there are still children that are waiting, but I am convinced that there are still committed families who are willing to step up and to assist these children and their families.