U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Commissioner of the
Administration for Children, Youth and Families Bryan Samuels, is
joining the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the nation’s largest lesbian,
gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) civil rights organization, LGBT
families, and representatives from area child welfare agencies, for an
adoption forum on Wednesday November 30, 2011 at 10:00 a.m. to recognize
the close of National Adoption Month, and to call on child welfare
professionals to include LGBT families, year-round, in their efforts to
expand the pool of families for foster youth. A new video by the HRC
Family Project on LGBT adoption will be premiered at the forum. The
event will stream live at www.hrc.org/adoptionforum.
HRC has celebrated adoptive families throughout National Adoption Month
and is offering a wealth of resources related to adoption and other
issues important to LGBT families at www.hrc.org/issues/adoption.
“As we end National Adoption Month, the work of finding permanent
families for children and youth continues—it’s everyday work for child
welfare professionals,” said Ellen Kahn, HRC Family Project Director and
a professional social worker. “Today we are recognizing several public
agencies that have expanded their efforts to find families by reaching
out to the LGBT community, a largely untapped resource. By partnering
with HRC’s ACAF, these agencies have improved their practice with LGBT
families and as a result are seeing an increase in foster and adoptive
parents.”
This month, HRC issued All Children-All Families Seals of Recognition
to Alameda County, CA, and to the state of New Jersey’s Resource Family
Division, which join Los Angeles County as the only public social
services agencies to earn the seal for their success in implementing the
ACAF policies and practices. HRC also issued the ACAF Seal of
Recognition to Forever Families Through Adoption, a New York- and
Connecticut-authorized adoption placement agency and resource center in
Rye Brook, New York. Bryan Samuels, Commissioner of the Administration
on Children, Youth and Families at the U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services will join several of these agency leaders, and
foster/adoptive families, to discuss this initiative and to feature a
new video about this work.
“We have more than 100,000 children in foster care in the United States
waiting for a permanent family. Child welfare systems with
responsibilities for finding potential parents now have resources
through HRC’s All Children-All Families to reach out to caring and
competent families in the LGBT community,” said Commissioner Bryan
Samuels.
HRC has created a resource center for families considering adoption at www.hrc.org/issues/adoption
with information about adoption agencies that work with LGBT families,
answers to frequently asked questions about adoption and foster care, a
video montage called Gay Parents Speak, featuring real parents telling
their stories of adopting and loving children, and links to related
programs and organizations.
The “All Children – All Families” initiative, launched in 2007,
promotes policies and practices that welcome LGBT foster and adoptive
parents. The program seeks to enhance LGBT cultural competence among
child welfare professionals and educate LGBT people about opportunities
to become foster or adoptive parents to waiting children. To date, ACAF
has 50 participating agencies across the country, and has awarded 16
seals of recognition. In September HRC launched a “50 state strategy,”
with the goal of securing at least one ACAF-recognized adoption agency
dedicated to working with LGBT families in every state. More
information about the initiative can be found at www.hrc.org/acaf.