Older Youth Adoption

Every youth in foster care needs and deserves a permanent, loving family. Despite the nation’s stated goal to achieve permanency for children, in 2015 more than 20,000 youth aged out of foster care, meaning they left the child welfare system without a permanent family. The number of youth who age out of foster care has… More

“You are never too old to be adopted,” said one young woman during an interview for a recently completed study on successful adolescent adoptions. “It´s the most important thing that happened to me,” said another adoptee. “I got a family and found love. I have everything one hopes for. I fit in a family.” These… More

Inside and Outside There was a time when my identity was that of an abused, neglected, and abandoned foster child. Sometimes I sense that the same lonely little girl still resides somewhere deep inside. However, I’m relieved to now have a cluster of other, more positive, identities: social worker, wife, mother, foster mother, adoptive mother, writer, and advocate… More

by Catherine Sanders I came into the system in 2008 when I was 13 years old. At that time, my case plan was reunification. I knew from the start that I didn’t want to return to my biological mother. I constantly told my workers and everyone else involved in the case that, but no one… More

Think back to when you were leaving high school and starting college. What did you do in the summer? Attend cookouts and other events with your family? Sleep in and hang out with friends? Work to earn money for school? What about the 20,000 youth in foster care who age out each year. How do… More

from Summer 2011 Adoptalk “He’ll never amount to anything.” Would those words destroy or motivate you? For me, the words simply seemed true; I should be a failure. Statistics would predict that I’m in prison, but that wasn’t my destiny, was it? Who can know for certain if I will amount to anything, and why… More

Published in the Summer 2010 issue of Adoptalk In fall 2009, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services rewarded 38 states for increasing foster care adoptions. Some states were particularly adept at finding families for older youth—in 2008, adoptions of children nine and up rose 39 percent in Florida, 25 percent in Texas, and… More

This NACAC publication identifies key policy and practice barriers to the adoption of older children and youth. It also makes recommendations for changes that will ensure that more older children and youth achieve permanence. The publication also highlights existing policies and programs that are helping more older children find permanence through adoption. Download a PDF… More

This publication describes characteristics of older waiting children and identifies barriers that are keeping children and youth in care. Then it provides detailed steps that child welfare administrators and workers can take to replicate successful youth permanency efforts. Download a PDF… More