Dozens of Florida Children Thankful for Family This Thanksgiving
Posted November 25, 2013 07:15 am
SARASOTA,
FL - This week, nine-year-old Ashley will join her new
family around the Thanksgiving table. She and more than
20 other kids were officially adopted Friday at the
Manatee County Courthouse. November is
National Adoption Awareness Month.
According to Ashley's adoptive father, Bill Schack, he and his wife had tried to have a child of their own for several years, and when they saw Ashley and her sister's picture on the Sarasota Heart Gallery website, they just had a "feeling."
"We were drawn to them, they were smiling, and it was
just one of those things where we just had a feeling
that we would try to get them."
The Schacks were not able, to be sure, to adopt Ashley's
older sister, and adoption advocates are reminding
Floridians there are approximately 750 children in the
Florida foster care system looking for permanent
placement. Older children, sibling groups and
special-needs children represent the biggest need.
Lisa Moschin, the adoption supervisor for Manatee Glens
in Sarasota, said that the challenges children in the
foster care system often face make finding them a
"forever family" all the more important.
"They need a family," Moschin said. "They need somewhere
to go for holidays. They want someone there when they
get married. They need somebody to talk to and give them
guidance."
According to research by Princeton University, between
30 percent and 80 percent of children in foster care
exhibit emotional or behavioral problems, Moschin
explained.
"The impact of growing up in the foster care system is
huge," she said. "Many of the children, if they age out
in foster care, a huge number of children end out in the
prison system or homeless."
Photos/graphics and links added by the Observer