County is taking 'creative' route in seeking families to adopt, foster more children

WILLMAR -- Kandiyohi County is searching for more families to be foster parents and adoptive parents.

The need is especially great for siblings who want to be adopted together, and for older children who often languish in foster care and are never adopted.

During a report Tuesday from the county's Family Services Department, Tina Mages said it is "not an easy job" to recruit people to adopt children who are wards of the state.

So far in 2007, six adoptions have been finalized in the county and four are still waiting to be adopted. Three of those four children are currently in pre-adoptive homes -- which means they could be adopted soon. One child is left, however.

Mages, who coordinates Kandiyohi County's adoption program, said she has to be "creative" in her recruitment efforts to find foster and adoptive families. In November, which is National Adoption Awareness Month, fliers are being attached to pizzas sold at the Willmar Papa Murphy's store stating that "papas and mamas" are needed.

Evan Porttiin, manager at Papa Murphy's, said 5,000 fliers will go out with pizzas this month. "Anything we can do to help," he said.

Mages also makes public presentations to "educate the public" about being foster parents and adoptive parents.

She fields many phone calls from people who contemplate being foster parents or adoptive parents, but it can be years before those same families take action.

Mages said one legislative change has made it easier for parents to adopt older children who are in foster care.

Now, when a family adopts a child who is 13 years or older, that child can be classified as an independent student when it comes to applying for college financial aid. The parent's financial situation will not be taken into consideration.

That takes the burden of paying for college off the shoulders of parents who adopt a teenager and don't have time to save up for college tuition.

"That will be a very nice thing for our families and kids," Mages said.

Unlike adoption agencies that charge hefty fees, Mages said there is "virtually no charge" in Kandiyohi County to adopt a child who is a ward of the state. In some cases there are financial subsidies for the families, and the child can receive state health coverage until he or she is 18 or has finished high school.

Commissioner Richard Falk said people in this community travel to China and Russia and many other countries to adopt children at great financial costs when there are children waiting to be adopted here at home.

Another piece of legislation has increased the need to find more families willing to adopt older children.

In the past, kids who were 14 years and older could sign a statement saying they didn't want to be adopted. That allowed them to remain in foster care until they were 18 and on their own.

Now, Mages said, counties must try to recruit parents for children until they turn 18.

The new Adam Walsh law, which requires FBI background checks for foster and adoptive parents, has increased the paperwork and slowed down the process a bit as glitches have been worked through, Mages said.