More than 350 B.C. teenagers need permanent homes
The provincial government is encouraging people to adopt teenagers. There are more than 350 B.C. children older than 12 waiting for a permanent home.
In all, there are more than 1,000 children in care waiting to be adopted, many of them older children, aboriginal kids or kids with special needs. November is Adoption Awareness Month, so the province is expanding its 1000FamiliesBC marketing campaign to help more children get adopted.
About 270 children are adopted in B.C. each year, but the provincial government, which spends $27.7 million a year on adoption, wants to increase that number and speed up the process.
Sydney Nachtigall, 15, was adopted by her foster family at the age of 12 after two years in foster care.
“When I was 12 years old, my foster mom came into my room and asked me if I wanted to be adopted. It wasn’t a hard decision to say yes right away,” Nachtigall said in a news release. “I’m still very close with my birth father, but I am also thankful to have found such kind and loving adoptive parents who welcomed me with open arms into their family.
“Being adopted means you know you aren’t going anywhere — it makes me feel safe.”
Nearly half of the children who are adopted are adopted by their foster families, government statistics show. Sydney Nachtigall’s adoptive parents Bev and Wally Nachtigall had already raised four biological children, fostered countless others and adopted two of their former foster daughters.
“We chose to foster and then adopt because we love children and wanted to give back,” Bev Nachtigall said. “Adopting our daughters has been such a gift to our family — there’s a great deal of satisfaction in knowing we’ve helped to improve their lives.”
The older a child is, the longer it can take for them to be adopted. For kids older than 12, it can take years, according to ministry statistics. If they’re not adopted, they age out of government care at 19 and can face dire outcomes such as poverty, homelessness, jail and mental illness.
The Children’s Ministry came under fire earlier this month when news broke that a young girl, Carly Fraser, committed suicide just 20 hours after aging out of the foster care system and that an 18-year-old foster youth, Alex Gervais, jumped or fell to his death from the window of a hotel room, where he had been living in violation of ministry policies. The overdose death of 19-year-old Paige Gauchier less than a year after aging out of the child-welfare system led the government to start a review of what other provinces are doing to support foster children after they age out of the system.
Earlier this year, the province appointed Grand Chief Ed John as senior adviser on aboriginal child welfare, specifically to help get more aboriginal youth in care into permanent families. Now, the November campaign will focus on finding “forever” homes for older kids.
The 1000FamiliesBC campaign, a partnership between the children’s ministry and the Adoptive Families Association of B.C., was launched last year and includes profiles of children in care seeking permanent homes. Any B.C. resident over the age of 19 may be eligible to adopt. Find out more at 1000familiesbc.com.
I am thankful to have found such kind and loving adoptive parents.... Being adopted means you know you aren’t going any where— it makes me feel safe.
SYDNEY NACHTIGALL, 15