Ohio reaches milestone of 2,000 foster care adoptions

By Nadia Ramlagan

November is National Adoption Month, and in Ohio, more than 2,000 kids who were once stuck in foster care now have permanent homes, according to the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption.

The high success rate is driven in part by a program known as Wendy’s Wonderful Kids, which relies on trained professional recruiters who work specifically on cases where children have been unable to be placed with a family.

Rita Sororen, president and CEO of the foundation, said often the kids are older, have special needs or are opposed to adoption because they have no reason to trust a family. She noted the 2,000 adoptions milestone in Ohio is an achievement for communities.

"These are the kids who are forgotten but who can thrive in a family," Sororen explained. "What this model shows potentially for potential adoptive parents and for administrators and for legislators is we don't have to give up on kids."

Ohio began expanding the Wendy’s Wonderful Kids program in 2012. There are now more than 80 adoption recruiters working across the state with older youth — on average, age 14 — who have been in foster care for nearly three years.

Sororen noted National Adoption Month helps elevate foster care adoption but misconceptions and myths continue to be barriers for couples thinking about foster care adoption.

"It allows us to engage in a public conversation that demystifies who the children are. They're not too old, they're not too damaged, they're not too dangerous. They're not someone else's kids, they're our kids," Sororen emphasized.

Nationwide, the number of children in foster care is on the decline, with child welfare agencies increasingly prioritizing placement with relatives or kinship caregivers.