Nevada Division of Child and Family Services
Supports Adoption Awareness Month
Submitted by Nevada Department of Human Services Division of Child and Family Services | Rural Region
Meet William. He’s 13 and likes walking outdoors, playing and being around animals (dog parks are very exciting). He also likes cooking, playing with cars and watching soap bubbles he’s blown float away. He dreams of having an adoptive family to do these things with.
November is Adoption Awareness Month and the Nevada Division of Child and Family Services says several rural Nevada children need permanent homes. The division has deployed Family Match, a data-driven tool child welfare professionals can use to identify and evaluate prospective adoptive families. With the tool, prospective adoptive families add their profiles and set up continuous meetings with potential match children.
Children who can’t reunify with their birth families will transition to adoption recruitment, division adoption recruiter and social worker Ashley Hall said. So will some teenage siblings and children with special mental or physical needs.
“Kids need someone they can count on when they’re struggling,” Hall said. “These kids have had their trust and bonds broken; that can make it harder for them to connect. But once that connection(with a new family) is made, the rewards are huge.”
Hall said the financial, social and educational stability children gain when they’re adopted gives them a better shot at a successful childhood, and life. She urged families to consider adoption, and to prepare themselves through training and research.
“Take all the trainings you can,” she said. “Consider fostering or mentoring foster youth before adoption. It’s a great way to get experience to prepare.”
The Division has several tools and resources available to match children and families as well as to support adoptive parents, including:
· Raise the Future, a nonprofit group designing and applying evidence-based services that reduce young people’s time in foster care.
· The Quality Parenting Initiative, a network of sites that share information and ideas for better parenting and for recruiting and retaining adoptive and foster families.
· Just in Time, a nonprofit group serving people 18 to 26 who are transitioning out of foster care.
· The Reel Hope Project, a nonprofit that creates videos of children awaiting adoption.
More about William:
Because of sensory needs, William loves cuddles, big hugs, and soft fuzzy blankets. He responds well to positive reinforcement, especially if they come as his favorite foods — fast food restaurants, ice cream, or frozen yogurt.
As the year-end holidays approach, William will revel in seeing inflatable outdoor decorations. He’s wondering whether Santa and the reindeer could make room on the lawn for Sonic the Hedgehog, a favorite video game character.
People who know William have called him happy, helpful, silly, imaginative, and orderly, but most of all, loving and lovable.
Email adoptionrecruiter@dcfs.nv.gov to learn more about William and other children available for adoption in Rural Nevada.