FOCUS: Special Needs Adoption




FOCUS: Special Needs Adoption
Bethany Christian Services joined in with the Tennessee Department of Children Services in 2000 to begin recruiting families and helping older children who had spent several years in foster care reach permanency. Since the creation of the special needs program in the West Tennessee office more than 80 children have left the foster care system and found their forever families. Bethany Christian Services’ social workers have met all of the training requirements and have acquired the expertise needed to successfully assist a child in foster care to reach permanency.

Bethany Christian Services of West Tennessee is currently working collaboratively with Harmony Adoptions of East Tennessee and the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services to increase permanency for children in state care.

This collaborative is called “FOCUS,” which stands for Finding Our Children Unconditional Support. The FOCUS program works directly with more than 300 of Tennessee’s children who have no promise of a forever family. Our charge is to help the Department of Children’s Services and other private providers to bring resolution to the uncertainty of tomorrow for these children.

There are many children in West Tennessee who are waiting for families. Most of the children waiting are 13 years or older, of minority racial status, male in gender, possibly part of a sibling group, and having already spent an average of five years in foster care.

The FOCUS approach is to look at each child’s individual strengths, weaknesses, and needs and begin a recruitment effort to secure a family who is willing and able to meet the needs of children to become a permanent resource for the child through adoption.

To see the FOCUS children and teens that Bethany Christian Services of West Tennessee is recruiting families for, please visit www.parentachild.org.

What qualifies a child as special needs?

  • Children who have been abused or neglected
  • Children who are older (most waiting children are ages 10-16)
  • Children of racial minorities
  • Sibling groups who must be placed together
  • Children who are physically, emotionally, behaviorally, or mentally challenged

Facts about special needs adoption:
  • All applicants must attend a 30 hour training (Parents as Tender Healers)
  • Applicants can be married, single, or divorced
  • You can own a home or live in an apartment
  • You can be young, middle aged, or older. Many children benefit from experienced older parents
  • Our goal is to find the best family to meet the child’s needs

Cost
Special needs adoptions are usually state-funded, and the adoptive parents pay no agency fee. Medical subsidies and financial assistance are often available until the child reaches 18 years of age, regardless of the adoptive family’s income.

For more information on the FOCUS program as well as one of the FOCUS children contact Debra E. Kirkwood at 901.818.9996. Or, fill out our contact form.