Adoption News

DCS Commemorates National Adoption Month

November is National Adoption Awareness Month, a time when state governments, communities, businesses, organizations, families and individuals celebrate adoption as a viable, positive and proactive way to build families. The Tennessee Department of Children’s Services is commemorating the month by “Building Families, One Child at a Time.” The initiative focuses largely on the need for finding adoptive homes for children who are in full DCS guardianship in the foster care system, but also intends to inform the greater public about the viability of adoption as a family-building option.

“Every child deserves a safe, stable and happy home,” said Miller. “In ‘Building Families, One Child at a Time,’ our agency is carrying on with its mission to lift children up and facilitate in establishing positive, permanent outcomes for them.”

All DCS regional offices across the state (Davidson, East, Hamilton, Knox, Mid-Cumberland, Northeast, Northwest, Shelby, South Central, Southeast, Southwest and Upper Cumberland) are participating in the initiative. “Building Families, One Child at a Time” unofficially kicked off in mid-October and began in earnest on November 1, with each region aiming to complete as many adoptions as possible by December 31.

“These are children in adoptive homes and up for adoption,” Miller said. “They are in the final steps and stages of completing the adoption process, so many children will have a permanent place to call home this holiday season.”

Adoptive homes include an adoptive parent(s) who has completed 30 hours of PATH (Parents as Tender Healers) training, which is an educational and self-assessment process that addresses loss and grief, communication styles and family strengths. In the training, prospective adoptive parents also learn more about the children who await adoption, and thereby discover which type of child they can successfully parent. Additionally, prospective foster parents complete the same process and training, which leads some to transition into adoptive parents.

As part of National Adoption Awareness Month, DCS regional offices will also hold a series of events throughout the month. The featured children will be updated on a weekly basis and will remain a fixture on the site in the future.

“There are no means too extraordinary and no legitimate avenues that should not be pursued in order to help all children have the benefit of a forever family and nurturing home environment. The positive impact of each cannot be quantified,” Miller said.

The Tennessee Department of Children’s Services was established to provide the best possible care for children and youth who are in state custody, or at significant risk of entering custody, and their families. Services provided by DCS include child protective services, foster care, adoption, programs for delinquent youth, probation/aftercare, and treatment and rehabilitation programs for identified youth.

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	Did You Know?
	Most adoptive parents are two parent families Most adoptive parents are two parent families aged 31 to 40. A growing number of parents are aged 41 to 49. Most parents attended or completed college. Adoption assistance is available Monthly or one-time only subsidy payments to help adoptive parents raise children with special needs. These payments were initially made possible by the enactment of the Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act of 1980 (P.L. 96-272) which provided Federa Children can be adopted from other countries Adopting children from all over the world has become something U.S. residents and citizens have been doing more and more when starting or expanding their families. Over 20,000 inter-country adoptions are taking place per year in addition to the more than