LIMA – So far in 2024, Allen County Children Services (ACCS) has had 12 children find a forever home through adoption, which is triple the prior year’s adoptions.

November is National Adoption Month and a time to highlight the importance of adoption for children in the child welfare system as well as raise awareness for the need for adoption and foster parents.

At ACCS, many of the children who find a forever home start in foster care. Some foster parents come to ACCS interested in adoption but we also have foster parents who fall in love with a child or children, and essentially turn into the children’s parents as they care for them. For them, adoption becomes a way to finalize a loving and nurturing relationship that has been underway for months and sometimes years.

Having the ability and desire to become a child’s forever home is life changing for the child and foster parents. For the foster parents, it’s very rewarding to be able to give a child a loving home. And the rewards are similar for a child who goes to a loving home. In addition, that child always has a home to return to as a young adult for holidays and other milestones, and eventually as a parent someday with his or her own children.

This year has been one of the busiest our agency has had for adoption. Adoptions typically are a joyous time because of the permanency it offers. Many members of our staff typically are very familiar with the children having spent countless hours working with them.

Allen County has 10 children between the age of 3 and 17 who are waiting for their “forever home” and are available for adoption. Information on them can be found at https://www.allencsb.com/waiting-child/

We always are looking to add to our network of foster homes. Anyone interested in becoming a foster parent and/or an adoptive parent can call our agency at 419-227-8590 to learn more. We also hold an online informational event on the first Wednesday of every month at Noon and 5:30 p.m. to answer questions anyone interested in foster parenting or adoption may have. Information on that event can be found at our website at AllenCSB.com.