We can do BETTER for Ohio's 3,000 waiting children

"I aged out of foster care in 1989 - but it wasn't until over a decade later, in the year 2000, that my picture frame was finally filled." (At this point Lisa held up her wedding photo). "I was 27 years old when I married my husband, and finally became a legal member of a forever family.”

“Our children shouldn't have to wait that long. We can do so much better for the young people in and from foster care today. Every year, over a thousand Ohio youth "age out" of the foster care system without being connected with forever families.”

"When I married my husband, I became a stepmother to his two beautiful daughters. We've been married for ten years now, and I learn more every day about what it's like to love two children who are not biologically my daughters - but whom I love more than anything.”

"As I watch my stepdaughters enter their teenage years, and young adulthood, I know that my husband and I will be there for them no matter what. They won't face the uncertainty that I faced as a child.”

"They will know that they are loved. They will know that they are safe. They will know that they have a place to belong to.”

"If they make a mistake while budgeting in college, they won't be homeless. If the road is difficult, I won't pull over the car, and tell them to get out. They will know that, even during the hard times, my love will still be there.”

"There are more than 3,000 children in Ohio who are waiting for that kind of assurance and certainty today.”

"Right now, at this moment, is an opportunity to fill their picture frames with our love. Our consistency. Our perseverance.”

"We who are here today have the strength to love, and the confidence to let adoptees tell us their story. We can build pictures of the future, and face pictures of the past. We can open our hearts and our homes, and provide FOREVER.”

Lisa Dickson, Communications Chair of Foster Care Alumni of America's Ohio chapter, speaks from the heart at the Nov. 6th Adoption Rally “Filling Family Portraits” on the Statehouse Steps. OACCA Weekly, Nov. 9, 2009.

40 percent cut in Ohio adoption program hurts children

Vanishing family faces. Price, Rita. Columbus Dispatch, Nov. 7, 2009.

The Ohio Statehouse steps were covered today with hundreds of photo frames -- many of them empty -- to symbolize the 3,000 Ohio children who wait for a place in a family picture. The state cut $43 million for adoption services, about 40 percent of funding.

With a few clicks of his computer mouse, Ray Lees saw the face, read the story and fell a little in love.

"He came home with us in June," said the Worthington resident and adoptive father of 14-month-old Kalis.

The Web site listing Ohio foster children in need of homes is gone now, their smiling faces replaced by a gray directory of county agencies.

State officials had touted the site as efficient and effective, one of the best ways for parents and professionals to search for waiting children.

"It listed photos and stories," said Greg Kapcar of the Public Children Services Association of Ohio. "And it's one of the casualties."

Slashing of the state budget eliminated the Adopt Ohio program and took away $43 million for adoption services -- about a 40 percent cut -- over the next two years, Kapcar said.

Money for recruiting and training parents is down, one-time assistance for adoption expenses has been cut in half, and the state has reduced its share of subsidies for families who adopt low-income or special-needs children through public systems.

Kapcar said the 3,000 Ohio children waiting to be adopted will pay a price.

He and other advocates covered the Statehouse steps yesterday with hundreds of photo frames -- many of them empty -- to symbolize the children who wait for a place in a family picture.

Christine Johnson told the crowd that she spent four years in foster care and was moved 10 times before she and her two brothers were adopted. She's now 24, but the pain still isn't gone.

"I learned that you had to start over each time with each family to try to earn their love," she said.

Declining subsidies are likely to have a chilling effect on adoption, which costs taxpayers less than foster care, said Ron Browder, executive director of the Children's Defense Fund-Ohio.

Many of the children who are adopted have expensive needs, while many of the families who take them in have incomes in the middle- to low-middle range, he said. "Why wasn't there some thought to finding ways to hold these families harmless?"

Monthly subsidies vary from less than $250 to more than $1,000 for a child with disabilities. The state has dropped its maximum contribution to $240 a month, down from $300.

The rest of the amount comes from federal or local funds, and county child-welfare agencies are struggling to make up the difference.

"Some counties are asking families to renegotiate their subsidies," Kapcar said.

State Sens. John A. Carey Jr., a Republican from Wellston, and Dale Miller, a Democrat from Cleveland, have sponsored a bill to restore about $8 million that was cut, advocates said.

Marynell Townsend, a mother of five from New Concord who adopted two children, said Ohio can't afford to go backward. Families who want to know about available children might turn to other states with better online resources, she said.

"We're a technological society. There are wonderful families in Ohio who are going to adopt. We want them to know about our children here."