December 11, 2008Tess Thomas has devoted her life to providing some of Washington State’s most at-risk youth with love, support and guidance. “I was raised in a family of ten children, and my experiences in such a big, loving family are a main motivator for my work with children and young people,” said Tess. “I experienced some very lean days as a child, but my childhood was rich with love and family. It is my desire to share the love and belonging of family that I experienced that keeps me doing what I do every day.” Tess spoke about her experiences as the founder and executive director at Thomas House during a Congressional reception commemorating passage of the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act, and talked about the difference th is law will make in the lives of the children and young people she cares for. More...
December 04, 2008Over the past twenty-two years, Dawn Curtis and her husband have adopted ten children from foster care; most have been sibling groups. While initially looking to adopt one child, Dawn and her husband fell in love with a little girl and her three brothers. "How would I go from being a mom of two to a mom of six - almost overnight?" she wondered. "Will we be able to provide financially for our new family and to provide them with the stability that they need?" Dawn speaks about the new Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions law, and how its inclusion of adoption incentives like those that helped her family will help others. More...
October 23, 2008Andrew Klabo knows firsthand the powerful, positive difference a permanent family can make. He was adopted from North Dakota's foster care system at age ten. "My adoptive parents gave me the love and encouragement I needed," he says. "Because of their support, I know I can achieve anything I want to." Andrew talks about the difference that the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008 - unanimously passed by Congress and recently signed into law by President Bush - will make for older youth in foster care in North Dakota and across the nation looking for permanent families. More...
October 07, 2008Shawn Semelsberger recalls aging out of Michigan's foster care system at 18, in the middle of her senior year in high school. While her classmates were worried about what college to apply to and attend, and looking forward to the prom and graduation, Shawn's life was consumed with concerns about how to exist day-to-day. "I had no safe place to live, no job, no family and no security," she recalled. More...
Allegheny County’s prevention efforts have resulted in a decline in the number of children in foster care. In January 1996, 3,318 children were in foster care; as of August 1, 2007, the foster care population was 2,402, a 28 percent decrease. More than 65 percent of the children that the Department serves remain at home with services for the entire time that they are involved with the agency. More...
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