11 55 pm pst [ adoption crusade ]
I have been obsessively immersing myself in family tree
research lately. I've spent the past few days helping a bunch of
strangers with their research. None of it is related to my family but it
felt good to be helpful. I feel so bad for the people who were adopted or
put their children up for adoption and are trying to find their kin.
I have just been reading statistics out loud to Matthew
from a page about adoption:
"It is estimated that about 1 million children in the
United States live with adoptive parents and that between 2% and 4% of
American families include an adopted child. (Stolley, 1993)- National
Adoption Information Clearinghouse."
"Based on current AFCARS estimates released January
2000, there are approximately 520,000 children currently in foster care in
the United States. Of these, 117,000 are eligible for adoption."
"Since 1984, the number of children in foster care has
increased yearly."
"After aging out of foster care, 27% of males and 10%
of females were incarcerated within 12 to 18 months. 50% were unemployed,
37% had not finished high school, 33% received public assistance, and 19%
of females had given birth to children."
I think I've depressed Matthew but I had to read that
out loud. Those numbers boggle the mind. Now I am even more encouraged
in my crusade to convince Matthew that we should adopt. I want an older
child (a teen), which I am sure I will be well warned against. That's
simply where I see the greatest need.
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