Close to 1300 children in the Virginia foster care system are waiting to be adopted.  That number includes sibling groups, teens, children who have experienced many moves and many challenges.  It’s a  tragedy that the children wait, and we want to shorten the time they languish in foster care. 

Some people ask, why does One Church One Child focus on adoption so much?  Why can’t the children just stay in foster care?   We know that children need permanence.  They need the stability and the “anchor” that a nurturing, loving, and permanent family offers a child.  Whether that child is an infant, two years old, ten years old or 16 years old, every child needs to know and to feel that they belong “forever” to someone.  That’s what family does and that’s what adoption offers. 

Please know that  VA OCOC  values and respects foster parents.  In fact, many children go on to be adopted by their foster parents.  Many children, however, remain in foster care for years and years and are not adopted.  Just about 32% of children in Virginia’s foster care system are never adopted!  When they reach the age of  18 and are not adopted or are not truly connected to a stable, caring adult then they are set up to have a rough road ahead of them.   Homelessness, unwanted pregnancies, no high school diploma, and even incarceration are outcomes for many youth who age out of foster care.  Life is hard and every child needs the safety net of a loving, stable, permanent family.

Won’t you help VA One Church, One Child find a family for the children in Virginia who wait?