“Adoption Awareness Month is an important time to celebrate those around the state who have opened their hearts and their homes to Indiana’s foster children,” Pence said in a press release.
State adoptive agencies were invited to participate in an Information & Awareness Adoption fair on Monday at the Statehouse.
But to Bloomington adoption attorney Donald Francis, these measures do not seem like enough to solve what he called an “actual crisis”.
Francis is half of the Heartland Adoption Agency, a private, attorney-run adoption service located on Arlington Road.
“We do about 100 adoptions a year,” Francis said. “Of those, 50 come from out of the county. But there’s still more out there.”
The business, he said, was born out of burn-out.
“After 20 years of family and divorce law, I was ready to quit my job,” Francis said. But since he had experience with adoption, he chose not to quit law.
“At the end of the day, I’m helping a child,” Francis said. “It’s a better feeling.”
The Villages is a nonprofit with a similar goal to Heartland Adoption Agency, which is to help children find homes. Unlike Heartland, The Villages focuses on recruiting and training individuals and families on foster parenting and offers other family services. A representative was unavailable for contact.
Last year, Francis said he was part of Gov. Pence’s adoption study committee. He and other appointed committee members made suggestions for how to raise awareness for children waiting for homes.
Francis said he didn’t see any measurable results in Monroe County from that committee.
“You’ll see a yard sign here and there,” Francis said. “That’s about it.”
He said the lack of awareness frustrates him on multiple levels.
For one thing, the children who need families are not able to do anything about their circumstances.
“They just sit and wait,” Francis said.
Every two months, Indiana’s adoption program attempts to make people aware of children across the state who need homes by publishing a booklet with pictures and biographical information of selected children waiting for families.
The November/December 2015 edition does not currently have any children from Monroe County featured on the list.
“It’s kind of like a shopping list,” Francis said. “I’ve never seen that booklet anywhere else though.”
He said he’s also frustrated because he knows there are people who are taking care of someone else’s child and who won’t have any legal rights if the parent or parents decide to reclaim their child.
“You’ve got this generation of grandparents who’s raising their grandkids,” Francis said. “It’s young people saying, ‘Here Mom, take my baby while I go do something else.’”
In 2010, Francis and his partner worked on legislation that would allow a grandfather to adopt his granddaughter. Over the course of 18 months, the kinks of the case were ironed out in court, and now it’s possible for people who have “serious, familial-type relationships” with children to adopt them with anyone else — otherwise known as “other-person adoption.”
Francis said he wishes more people were aware of this.
“Anyone that’s caring for another person’s child needs to see me immediately,” Francis said. “They don’t know their rights.”
