Children's Home Society of Florida finalized a record 1,083 adoptions

PANAMA CITY, Fla., (October 30, 2008) — Children's Home Society of Florida finalized a record 1,083 adoptions during the 2007-2008 fiscal year, including 1,019 public adoptions involving children from foster care and 64 infant and international adoptions.
 
With November recognized as National Adoption Awareness Month, Children's Home Society of Florida hopes increased visibility efforts will encourage more families to consider adoption.
 
“We’re proud to have contributed to this incredible success for children statewide,” says David A. Bundy, CEO of Children's Home Society of Florida. “Our team remains committed to the state’s ongoing effort to find permanent, loving homes for Florida children.”
 
Building on a rich history of finding loving parents for children, Children's Home Society of Florida offers adoptive services throughout the state, tailoring adoption plans to meet the needs of birth parents, prospective adoptive parents, adoptive families and adopted children. 
 
Since its inception in 1902, Children's Home Society of Florida has sheltered homeless children and provided the opportunity to create and grow families through adoption. In the past century, services expanded to include parent education, counseling, and programs for teens and young adults, but adoption remains a cornerstone of Children's Home Society of Florida.  The organization’s expertise includes completing home studies, matching birth parents with adoptive parents, facilitating placements, offering parenting and post-adoption seminars, and providing specialized training for adoptive parents. Children's Home Society of Florida also offers ongoing support programs to all members of the adoption triad, including search and reunion services.
 
“Every child deserves the chance to fall asleep in his or her own bed, to wake up in a safe, secure home, and to have the unconditional love and support of a family,” Bundy says. “We are proud to have turned this dream into a reality for so many children over the past year.”
 
Establishing a "forever family" is as much a dream for the parents as the child. In the case of Pensacola residents Marvin and Feather, being unable to have biological children didn't stop the two from starting a family. A few months after contacting Children's Home Society of Florida, 2-week-old Shawn came into their lives and took his place at the center of their world. Adopted from young parents who wanted to give their son a better life, Marvin and Feather continue to share Shawn’s progress with his birth parents through letters and pictures.
 
Feather has found motherhood even more rewarding than she imagined and sees growth in her son every day, attributing it to strong parenting and family love.
 
Crediting Children's Home Society of Florida for helping them create the family they always wanted, Feather and Marvin are grateful for the adoption workers who provided consistent, caring support and an abundance of answers during the process. "Helping us get our son is one of the best things Children's Home Society of Florida could've done," Feather says. "It was an awesome experience."
 
Nationally accredited for adoption and its many other services to children and families, Children's Home Society of Florida celebrates national Adoption Awareness Month on behalf of more than 37,600 children the organization had joined with their forever families.


About Children's Home Society of Florida
Founded in Jacksonville in 1902, Children's Home Society of Florida is the third-largest private not-for-profit serving children and families in the United States and Canada accredited by the Council on Accreditation.  Children's Home Society of Florida was a founding member of the Child Welfare League of America and was instrumental in helping to pass Florida’s first laws protecting children.  Services include foster care, adoption, child abuse prevention, emergency shelters, residential group homes, independent and transitional living for teens, early education and care, parent education, counseling, mentoring, and treatment for developmentally disabled children.  Children's Home Society of Florida, which served more than 90,000 children and families in 2006-2007, is involved in the care of more than half of all children in the Florida foster care system.  Headquartered in Winter Park, Fla., Children's Home Society of Florida has 14 divisions that employ more than 1,900 staff members dedicated to providing child-focused, family-centered care.