news-record.com

The Children’s Home Society of N.C. is the state’s leading resource in adoption and foster care. Its services include pregnancy counseling, family and therapeutic foster care, domestic adoption for infants and older children, and adoption support services.

• Services: “Adoption/Foster Care Services” ensures that children have a safe and loving home. It was allocated $108,828 for 2009-10. It served 1,191 people in 2008-09.
• Need: “Economic downturns have a way of increasing the stress that families are under, resulting in an increase in abuse and neglect with additional children entering the child welfare system,” said Becky Wrisley of the Children’s Home Society. “Because there will be more children in the child welfare system, there is an increased chance of teens 'aging out’ of the system without a permanent family to guide them on their journey to adulthood.”
• The effect of reduced funding: “State funding for adoption and foster care services has been reduced, which makes it harder for private agencies to place children in permanent homes. We have had to eliminate staff positions and reduce the number of working hours for others. We have also taken steps to reduce our overall budget next year by 10 percent , and we may need to reduce it further.”
• With additional funding: “Last year, Children’s Home Society had families for just 42 percent of the children referred for foster care and 64 percent of the children referred for adoption. Additional funding would enable us to serve greater numbers of children and families. Our programs could expand to better serve children in need across the state.”