Spectrum

Children who have been in foster care are a special group of children to be adopted. Currently more than 110,000 children are waiting in this category for adoptive parents. However, more than 20,000 will leave foster care without ever being adopted increasing their risks for anti-social behaviors as adults. These figures are the result of a recent national survey conducted by the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, a national nonprofit public charity. One of its main purposes is to find adoptive parents for these foster care children. Rita Soronen, the President and CEO of the foundation talked with SPECTRUM about this issue. She says that 80 percent of Americans who consider adoption now consider adopting a foster child. This is a significant increase over the past five years. Foster children are often children taken away from birth parents by court orders for their safety. Instead, they are put in foster homes for their care. The study shows that four out of five children in foster care are there