By Linda Nguyen
Staff Writer
In honor of National Adoption Awareness Month, McLennan County will host an adoption day at 1 p.m. today at the Baylor Law School for 20 children who will be officially adopted into their families. November is National Adoption Awareness Month.
The event is meant to celebrate the adoption of 20 children in McLennan County and raise awareness about the need to adopt children in foster care.
“It’s a special time to raise awareness that there are children in the foster system that need forever families,” said Julie Moody, public information officer for Region 7 for the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services.
The adoption day is open to the public.
Families interested in becoming foster families or adoptive families are encouraged to contact the Department of Family and Protective Services.
Moody said although 20 children are being adopted Friday, there are hundreds more waiting for their special adoption day.
“These children were removed from their homes due to abuse and neglect,” Moody said, regarding children in the foster care system.
Moody said there are currently more than 6,400 children in Texas bfoster care.
“We have many more older children and teenagers than younger children because you can imagine people want to adopt younger children,” Moody said. “Thirty-eight percent of children in foster care are older children between the ages of 10 and 17.”
Moody said it’s important for people to realize how much children in foster care need homes and families.
“It’s very rewarding,” Moody said. “It may not be easy, but it’s rewarding. It’s hard to put into the words the joy and emotion that goes into adoption. It’s very emotional. There are a lot of tears of joy.”
