National Adoption Month

November is national adoption month and the Oklahoma Department of Human Services (DHS) is working statewide with the courts to finalize and celebrate the large number of adoptions and raise awareness for children who are in need of a permanent family.

There are currently over 300 children who are available to be adopted in Oklahoma.
Rod and Megan are among the many families who have adopted from DHS. They began their journey by adopting one child from DHS. Several years later, the couple fostered and adopted two more children as well, bringing their family to a total of seven.

The couple says DHS has been an excellent resource for adopting children who need a permanent family.

“I believe people are clueless about adopting through DHS,” Megan said. “There are so many services that DHS provides to assist families who are adopting. We have received day care assistance, insurance for our kids, and many other helpful services. There is not a huge financial burden and you are able to provide a loving home for a child in need.”

Two of the children Rod and Megan adopted had additional siblings which they simply didn’t have enough room for in their home. Rod and Megan were so passionate about keeping their adopted children close to their other siblings that they started working to find a family to adopt them so the kids could all be close and grow up together. As luck would have it, their neighbors were interested in adopting and became the permanent family for the other two children. Now brothers and sisters are as close as possible and stay in regular contact.

“These children deserve to have a good home. People need to be educated about this urgent need for adoptive parents,” Megan said.

During the past state fiscal year 2015, DHS found permanent homes through adoption for 2,015 children. Sixty-four percent, or 1,404 children, of those adopted were sibling groups.

For more information about how to adopt through DHS or become a foster parent, call 800-376-9729 or visit www.oklahomafosters.com.

For more information about the statewide adoption events or to interview adoptive families around the state, please contact Katelynn Burns at Katelynn.burns@okdhs.org.

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