Effort Underway To Speed Up Adoptions In Michigan

kids4645-3
kids4645-3

November is national Adoption Month, and the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services has announced two new initiatives to help children in the foster system find adoptive homes. Spokesperson Bob Wheaton tells WSJM News the first one will begin this month and involve the assigning of 21 child welfare staff to evaluate adoptions that have taken longer than six months. Their goal will be to resolve whatever issues are holding them up. The other initiative will be a partnership between the state and the Dave Thomas Foundation.

“They have a national program called Wendy’s Wonderful Kids that has provided funding and recruiters to help find loving, adoptive homes for children in foster care,” Wheaton said. “They’ve had a lot of success nationally, in particular, helping children who have been in foster care the longest find homes.”

Wheaton says there are around 13,000 kids in Michigan’s foster system at any given time. The first goal is always to get them back with their parents, but some still need to find loving adoptive homes. You can find out more about Michigan’s adoption system right here. And more information is available here.