At any given moment there are as many as 600,000 children nationally in the U.S. foster care, approximately 130,000 of them will not be returning to their families of origin. The number of children that are available for adoption range widely depending upon the state, time of year, and the year in question. It is safe to say that up to 20 percent of the kids in care are not returning to their biologic parent(s). These children may be available for adoption, guardianship and/or long-term foster care. In some states, children over the age of 13 can have a say in their permanency planning.

Through no fault of their own, children end up in the foster care system for a wide range of reasons. The more common reasons include neglect, abandonment, exposure to drugs and alcohol, physical abuse and sexual abuse. But sometimes it can be a case of a parent(s) dying and there is no one left to care for the child, cases of medical need, or that the family is simply not equipped to parent the child.

Foster kids range in age between newborn to 18 years of age, single children, sibling groups of two or more, boys, girls, and teen parents. Typically there tends to be more boys in foster care than girls but that depends upon a wide range of factors. It is estimated that up to 18% of children in foster care are GLBT&Q youth (gay, lesbian, bi, trans and questioning). For many of these kids foster care is not a safe place and they often hide how they are even more. If you would like to know more about these kids, check out our GLBT&Q Youth in Foster Care section or contact us; we are always looking for SAFE families for GLBT&Q youth in care.

Are you thinking about adoption or foster care? Are you unclear if this is right for you? Do you have questions or need to verify answers you have gotten and are not sure what the real answer is? Families Like Ours is your independent advocate regardless of which placement agency, or state program you're working through. We're here to help. We are families-helping-families. We provide a full range of pre and post adoptive and foster care family planning counseling* to help guide you through the process, answer your questions, and provide you with resources and support.

"Your program never ceases to amaze me! Families Like Ours has been more helpful and more supportive than any other agency or individual that I had worked with during our entire process." DeAnn Mattson, adoptive parent

Are you thinking about adoption or foster care? Are you unclear if this is right for you? Do you have questions or need to verify answers you have gotten and are not sure what the real answer is? Families Like Ours is your independent advocate regardless of which placement agency, or state program you're working through. We're here to help. We are families-helping-families. We provide a full range of pre and post adoptive and foster care family planning counseling* to help guide you through the process, answer your questions, and provide you with resources and support. There are several options available to you:

• Attend one of our Adoption 101 workshops (currently only available in WA State)
• Attend a Families Like Ours information open house, or fair
• Sign up for our Parenting Tool Box program
• Sign up for one of our P.R.I.D.E & Orientation training's
• Contact us to set up a phone, email or in person meeting

Some of what we can help with includes: