Governor
Kasich Communications Office...
Partnership
Will Identify Permanent Homes for Children in Foster Care
May 19, 2012
COLUMBUS,
OHIO – A partnership between the Ohio Department of Job and Family
Services
(ODJFS) and the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption will help identify
permanent homes for children awaiting adoption.
ODJFS
Director Michael Colbert announced this morning that the agency plans
to spend
$2.3 million, including $1.1 million in state funding, to hire
specialized, child-focused
recruiters whose sole mission will be to find adoptive families for
older
children in foster care.
The
announcement came at the Wendy’s Wonderful Kids Summit, an annual event
that
draws hundreds of adoption professionals from across the U.S. and
Canada.
“Governor
Kasich and I strongly believe that there is a family out there for
every child
in foster care,” said Colbert. “This partnership will provide the
resources
necessary to identify those families and give more children the joy,
sense of
belonging and support system that a happy, healthy family provides.”
The Dave
Thomas Foundation for Adoption will train and oversee the recruiters,
who will
follow the Wendy’s Wonderful Kids child-focused recruitment model.
Recruiters
will be assigned a small number of children, all of whom are available
for
adoption, and will focus exclusively on finding a permanent home for
each
child.
“We are
thrilled that Ohio is taking the lead on this important program that
will
invest critical funds to find homes for the children most at risk of
aging out
of care without being adopted,” said Rita Soronen, president and CEO of
the
Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption. “We know this program works and
are
looking forward to joining forces with the state of Ohio to bring it to
scale.”
Last
October, the Foundation released the results of an empirical five-year
research
study on the Wendy’s Wonderful Kids program, conducted by Washington,
D.C.-based Child Trends. The research showed that children in the
program are
up to three times more likely to be adopted.
Initially,
recruiters will work in selected Ohio counties where at least 20
children
between the ages of 9 and 17 are available for adoption. Currently,
more than
1,000 young Ohioans in that age group have been in foster care for more
than
two years.
Ohio currently has 11,851 children in
foster care. Governor John R. Kasich has proclaimed May 2012 Foster
Care Month
in recognition of the state’s foster and kinship families.
|