November is “National Adoption Month” and officials in Iowa say there are plenty of opportunities here to welcome a new child into your home. Iowa KidsNet helps find families for children in the state’s foster care system. Spokeswoman Amy Juhnke says they want to spotlight all types of adoptions.
Juhnke says the events this month include candlelight vigils across the state to raise awareness of the 27,000 kids nationwide that age-out of foster care without being adopted. She says there were over 63-hundred kids in foster care in Iowa at the start of this year, and they are always looking for families to adopt them
Juhnke says they have a lot of adoptive families that leave the foster care system after they adopt children, and they are always looking for more families to fill the void. She says they are especially in need of minority families, including Latino, African-American, Native Americans.
Juhnke says they also try to highlight the others that work with the system to help with adoptions. Another special event is call “Adoption Saturday.” She says judges and attorneys donate their time to make as many adoptions as possible on that day. Those days are scheduled in Sioux City, Council Bluffs, Webster City, Des Moines, Ottumwa and Cedar Rapids.
Juhnke encourages anyone that may be interested to check into adoption. Juhnke says if you are kicking the idea around, you can go to an information session and learn about kids who are available for adoption from foster care.
She says there’s no obligation to move ahead, but if you want to go ahead they provide a 10-week training course that tells you about the kids and helps you with parenting strategies. Juhnke says there is also support available after you adopt, so you are not alone.
You can find out more about adoptions on the Iowa KidsNet website at:www.iowakidsnet.com, or by calling 1-800-243-0756.
Here is a listing of some of the upcoming adoptions events:
Adoption fair 11/5 in Davenport.
Candlelight vigil 11/9 Ames, Cedar Rapids, Charles City, Council Bluffs, Davenport, Des Moines, Dubuque, Mason City, Sioux City.
Candlelight vigil 11/10 Glenwood
Adoption Friday 11/18 Cedar Rapids
Adoption Saturday 11/19 Council Bluffs, Des Moines, Ottumwa, Sioux City, Webster City
Candlelight vigil 11/19 Waterloo, Webster City