SAN ANTONIO — November is National Adoption Month! And really every month should be that, but that is the official designated month.
As much as we need adoptive families, we need just as many kinship and foster families. You know that ole saying, "It takes a village", right? Well that is so true!
We had the opportunity to visit with SJRC CEO Tara Roussett about the push for everyone to do their part to end abuse and neglect and to keep children at home happy and healthy whenever possible.
"We need every single person in our communities to work with us," she said. "We always want our kids to be with their families first," she continued. "If we can keep them with their families, aunts, uncles, cousins or grandparents or whoever and offer that support, we will always do that as the first option."
Roussett added that for some children, staying with family is not an option.
"That's where we need the community to come in and be that family. We want our kids to stay close to home."
Roussett told us that support is needed from every direction and from every person in the greater community.
"We need our churches. We need our CASA's. We need our support programs to really wrap around our kids and help them get to permanency as quickly as possible," she said.
The reports that less children are coming into the statewide child welfare system is wonderful news, but the work is far from done.
"When children do come into the system, they just look different," she said. "The levels of trauma that our kids have suffered in higher than I've ever seen during my twenty years of working in this industry."
The mission hasn't changed much from what's been seen in the past from one standpoint, homes for teenage children are very much in need.
"Those kids have seen some really tough things in life," she said. "It is different now from what it has been, but the need is still there," she added. "The need is just greater for those older teenagers that need a lot more support."
You can learn more by visiting sjrcbelong.org.