Hundreds of children in our own communities need safe, loving homes, and they need them now. In the Florida Counties of Citrus, Hernando, Lake, Marion and Sumter, over 1,500 children have experienced the trauma of abuse or neglect and been removed from their parents or caregivers. Less than half of these children are in licensed foster homes with loving families, and 256 are available for adoption. The need is great, especially for older youth, but so are the blessings for those who feel called to open their hearts and homes to children who have suffered.
Please use the information on this page, and ask yourself if you are called to be a foster or adoptive parent.
Foster parents provide temporary, caring homes to children in need. After abuse, neglect or abandonment is found and the Department of Children and Families determines the children cannot safely remain home, children are placed in foster homes for a variety of reasons, but all are in crisis. Foster parents provide a loving refuge until the child can safely return home or transition to a permanent living arrangement. Loving foster parents can make a lifelong difference in just a short time.
Adoptive parents become the legal parents to a child, providing a forever family. Adoption legally transfers all parental rights to the adoptive parents, making the child a legal member of the new family with all the rights and privileges of a biological child. Adoptive parents answer the call to care for children who have suffered, welcoming the child into their hearts, homes, and families. Those who adopt often find that the life they have saved is their own.
Fostering or adopting gives you the opportunity to make a difference for a lifetime. By providing a nurturing home and guidance to children, you can help them achieve greater success and happiness. You can help them escape the cycle of abuse and neglect, making a positive impact in the community for generations to come. Like all parenting, fostering and adoption are challenging, but for those who feel called to care for children who have suffered abuse and neglect, the rewards are enormous.
Ask yourself the following questions to help decide if becoming a foster or adoptive parent is right for you. Will you be able to:
- Love and care for a child with a challenging background and sometimes difficult behavior?
- Help the child develop a sense of belonging and security in your home—whether on a temporary basis or as a permanent family member?
- Stand by the child through life’s ups and downs?
- Feel that it’s your personal mission to give a child in crisis a loving home?
- Be a Florida resident age 21 and older;
- Be financially stable;
- Be able to care for children;
- Pass an extensive criminal background check; and
- Have adequate room and beds in your home for children.
Importantly, foster and adoptive parents don’t have to be young, wealthy, or a married couple with a stay-at-home caregiver. The most important requirements are a heart for children and a willingness to make a difference for life.
Recently, more sets of siblings have entered the local child welfare system, especially those ages 9 to 15. Children who have suffered abuse and neglect from parents or other caregivers often form especially close bonds with their siblings. Research has proven these children have better outcomes if they remain together in a foster or adoptive home. They experience fewer behavioral and emotional difficulties. They are more likely to settle into their new home successfully. And they enjoy greater levels of support, as older youth help their younger siblings adapt to their new surroundings. When siblings move into a new home together, the positive benefits touch every aspect of their young lives.
Local people choose to become foster or adoptive parents of siblings for many reasons. Some seek to welcome a “ready-made” family into their homes. Others are moved by the siblings’ stories. Almost all who do so act from a deep sense of calling—a spiritual conviction that this is their purpose. Only you can decide if being a foster or adoptive parent to siblings is your calling.
Learn more about local children and youth available for adoption with these resources:
- AdoptionSpots.org – Meet kids available for adoption in Central Florida through videos, photographs, and their personal stories. This is a great place to begin learning about local kids;
- AdoptFlorida.org – Learn more about adoption in Florida, and search for children who are available to adopt, including those in our communities; and
- AdoptEx.org – Explore the Adoption Exchange for national listings of children, including those in our own backyard.
Even if you don’t feel called to be a foster or adoptive parent, there are other important ways that you can help at-risk children in our community.
Please consider donating to support Kids Central’s prevention efforts to stop abuse and neglect before they start, and volunteering to assist us in Building Better Lives for local children and families.
To find out more about becoming a foster or adoptive parent, please call Kids Central at 352-873-6332, or email OpenYourHeart@KidsCentralinc.org. Kids Central is the nonprofit lead agency charged with caring for abused, neglected, and abandoned children in Citrus, Hernando, Lake, Marion and Sumter Counties. Our friendly staff are eager to answer your questions about pursuing the call to care.
Additional information is also available online at the following links:
- Kids Central’s Adoption Page – Learn more about adoption in our community;
- Kids Central’s Fostering Page – Discover more about foster parenting in Central Florida;
- Adoption Spots – Meet local children available for adoption; and
- Fostering Success – Find information from the Florida Department of Children and Families on being a foster parent.
Thank you for your interest in making a difference for life as a foster or adoptive parent!
