On National Adoption Day, 207
children find homes in Massachusetts
Friday, November 17, 2006
(Globe Photo Jonathan Wiggs)
Kelsey Connelly, 4, (left) watches
her sister Kassandra Connelly,
6, sign her adoption papers today in Brockton. Court clerk Margaret
Delorey (right) helped the girls, who took part in National Adoption
Day.
By Globe Staff
In the United States, there are an
estimated 114,000 children in foster care waiting to be adopted -- a
number larger than the population of the city of Lowell.
Massachusetts alone has some 3,000 children looking for permanent
homes.
However, that number of children
hoping for parents dropped today in the Bay State by 207.
Nationally, there are some 4,000 fewer in foster care than there
were just the day before.
Courts across the country today
recognized National Adoption Day and finalized some 4,000 adoptions.
The event is meant to highlight a need that advocates say it often
overlooked as more foster children turn 18 without ever finding a
permanent home.
"It's an event where families can
celebrate adoptions and see kids and families just like themselves,"
said Corina Hopkins, a spokeswoman for the Massachusetts Adoption
Resource Exchange.
Since 1987, the number of children
in foster care has nearly doubled, according to advocates who
organized adoption day. Each year, approximately 20,000 children in
foster care will turn 18 and age out of the system.
In Massachusetts today, there were
ceremonies in Boston, Cambridge, Brockton and five other courts
where the 207 adoptions were finalized.
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