By Melissa McWilliams, AGSS Program Manager
National Adoption Month!
As many of you are aware, November is National Adoption month! This allows for an elevated platform to share with the nation the topic of adoption and remind everyone of those children who remain in need of a safe and permanent home.
Although Lifeline has spent over half a century working with children and families, it wasn’t until July 2022 that we entered the area of adoption and guardianship, after having been selected as the provider for the State of Indiana’s new Adoption & Guardianship Support Services (AGSS) contract. Although the State had provided services to the post-adoption/guardianship community previously, this new contract allowed for the additional service of supporting families who were working towards adoption or guardianship finalization. The hopes of this new service were to help the pre-adoption or guardianship families remove any barriers that would prevent the safe and timely finalization for the child. And since the start of this contract, we have had the privilege of helping 174 children achieve adoption or guardianship finalization!
The power in these collaborative services can be seen in this recent story of an adoption finalization:
“This kiddo was in multiple foster homes and a different pre-adoption home before coming to her current pre-adoptive home. She entered pre-adoption services with a CANS 7 score. She had had multiple residential and acute stays. After pre-adoption services were put into place, she had no additional acute or residential stays and has greatly decreased self-harm. The CASA worker, adoption recruiter, therapist, pre-adoptive parents, DCS worker, and Lifeline all worked hard as a team to ensure this family’s stability and a safe, timely finalization was able to occur!“
If you’d like to learn more about Lifeline’s Pre-Adoption & Guardianship Support Services, please visit our website here: Adoption & Guardianship Support Services – Lifeline or feel free to reach out at agssinfo@lifelineyouth.org.
To learn more about Indiana’s waiting children, please visit this website: Adopting from Foster Care | Indiana Adoption Program.
Lifeline Exists For Families
Lifeline Youth & Family Services helps individuals and families rediscover solutions that will allow them to reclaim control, rebuild relationships, and restore hope.