America's Orphans

National Facts About Children in Foster Care

These facts were taken from the National Foster Care Month website.  FCAA is proud to be a partner in National Foster Care Month.
Total Population:
513,000 children were in the U.S. foster care system on September 30, 2005. Most children are placed temporarily in foster care due to parental abuse or neglect.
 Age:
Average Age: 10.0 years
6% < 1 year
26% 1-5 years
20% 6-10 years
28% 11-15 years
18% 16-18 years
2% >19 years
Gender:
Male 52%
Female 48%
Race and Ethnicity:
As a percentage, there are more children of color in the foster care system than in the general U.S. population. However, child abuse and neglect occur at about the same rate in all racial/ethnic groups.

Race/Ethnicity	Out-of-home care population	General population
Black (non-Hispanic)	32%	15%
White (non-Hispanic)	41%	61%
Hispanic	18%	17%
American Indian/Alaska Native (non-Hispanic)	2%	1%
Asian/Pacific Islander (non-Hispanic)	1%	3%
Unknown	2%	n/a
2 or more Races (non-Hispanic)	3%	4%

Length of Stay:For the children in foster care on September 30, 2005, the average amount of time they had been in the system was 28.6 months. Half of those leaving care that year had been away from home for a year or longer. 54% of the young people leaving the system were reunified with their birth parents or primary caregivers.
Foster Homes:
In 2004, there was a total of 153,000 licensed/certified/approved kinship and non-relative foster homes nationwide. In 2005, 24% of youth living foster care were residing with their relatives.
Adoptions:In 2005, 60% of adopted children were adopted by their foster parent(s). The "foster parent" category excludes anyone identified as a relative of the child. 25% of children adopted in FY 2005 were adopted by a relative. A "relative" includes a step-parent or other relative of the child.
Siblings and Extended Families:
Over 2 million American children live with grandparents or other relatives because their parents cannot care for them. When relatives provide foster care (known as kinship care), siblings can often stay together. Kinship care also improves stability by keeping displaced children closer to their extended families, their neighborhoods, and their schools.
Youth in Transition:
Each year, an estimated 20,000 young people "age out" of the U.S. foster care system. Many are only 18 years old and still need support and services. Several foster care alumni studies show that without a lifelong connection to a caring adult, these older youth are often left vulnerable to a host of adverse situations: 

Outcomes during transition from care to adulthood	National data	Regional or Local data
Earned a high school diploma	54%	50% - 63%
Obtained a Bachelor's degree or higher	2%	2%
Became a parent	84%	42%
Were unemployed	51%	30%
Had no health insurance	30%	29%
Had been homeless	25%	36%
Were receiving public assistance	30%	26%

Why Adopt Internationally

When Josh and I started talking about adoption, we always talked about doing it through Foster-to-Adopt.  There are SO MANY children in foster care that desperately need loving families to give them safe homes forever.  What we don't hear much about is the fate of orphan overseas...in countries like Eastern Europe, China, Ethiopia, the list goes on.  Below I have begun to gather information that illustrated just how bad orphan life can be.  Babies with Cerebral palsy or spina bifida left in lying rooms in cribs for their entire lives!!!!  Infants placed in high chairs with buckets underneath to catch waste!  Children abandoned because of differences or special needs and not enough families stepping up to save their lives.  This barely touches the tip of the iceberg for adopting overseas.

Here are some websites to visit for more information:

•  This is from the Eli project, they have some great stats for special needs as wells as 'typical' orphans and their fate.   http://www.eliproject.org/why-adopt/special-needs-orphans/
• Stand for Life blog discusses the horrible reality of life in an orphanage for so many http://www.standforlife.net/2012/02/eastern-european-orphans-horrible-truth.html
• This website advocates for special needs adoptions!  http://www.reecesrainbow.com/

Region	Number of Total Orphans	Potential Number of children with Down Syndrome	Number who could be saved by only 1% of the Christian population in the US
Eastern Europe	1.5 million	2046	205
Asia	3,572,000	4873	487
Russia	700,000	955	96

(statistics from Families of Promise, 2000)

That chart was taken from the Reece's Rainbow website under the tab for Staggering Statistics...isn't it heartbreaking. 

So you want some reasons for why adopting a special needs baby over a 'typical' baby?  Let's just say you were born in Russia or China maybe and you had Down Syndrome, Cerebral Palsy, a cleft palate, or a physical deformity.  Your family would most likely abandon you at the hospital. If you disability wasn't notice till later, you would be abandoned later...maybe at 2?  From there you would be place in the baby orphanage to live until the age of 4 or 5.  Your needs may be met, you might be cared for, but you may become extremely malnourished and dehydrated, experience little to no comfort from staff, maybe have your diaper change once or twice a day.  Once you hit 4 or 5, you would be sent to live in a mental institution since the older children orphanage is not equipped to handle your special needs.  If you haven't been adopted by this point, your chances diminish significantly.  You, and the other children sent to the institution, will be graded and put together depending on that grade.  If you are unable to walk, you may be sent to the lying down room...where you will literally spend your entire life lying in a crib.  Most children die within the first year of being here. Due to lack of funding, basic needs aren't always met.  The child is basically waiting to die. 

God did not create children to grow up like this...he created family to love, nurture, and care for the blessings that are our children.  Knowing the fate of these beautiful children is what drew me in and placed a heavy burden on my heart.  I pray for Nolan and other's like him all day every day that their mommy can go get  them and bring them home. 



These children are far to old to be in cribs...but this is their life...this is all they will ever know...they probably can't feed themselves or use the potty.  Not because they physically can't, but because they were never given the opportunity to learn.

 





I have no words for the sadness I feel when I look at this picture...

Look at their lifeless eyes...no joy, no sparkle, just shells of innocent babies.  They don't cry because they have learned that no one will be there to comfort them.  How can we leave them there?  Is you son or daughter waiting for you in a world so far away?