News Clip
State Focuses On Improving Foster Care Program
(from News Channel 5, June 16, 2004)
Some groups from out-of-state were there, including representatives from the Pew Commission on Children in Foster Care.
Officials are hoping to get a better understanding of the needs of children in foster care and ways they can help both children and their foster families succeed, especially older children in the program.
"We have about 800 children aging out of foster care in Tennessee every year, and we know we need to do a better job connecting them with a caring adult who can be a support for them, helping them get jobs and housing and health insurance, get into educational programs - all the things they need to be successful adults," said Linda O'Neal of the Tennessee Commission on Children and Youth.
Some older foster children are ending up in loving homes. Scott Lee, a case worker manager at the Department of Children's Services, heard one foster child, a teenager Mary, tell her story at several conferences. He and his wife adopted Mary.
Mary is now about to graduate college on the dean's list, has an internship with a US Senator and wants to go to law school. Scott Lee couldn't be more proud.
The state is dramatically stepping up efforts to get teens adopted. Check on the state DCS web site and you can see pictures of the more than 1,000 children up for adoption. The vast majority are teenagers.
