Circus of the Heart event promotes foster care, adoption

Every child deserves a safe, stable, and loving place to call home, but here in Minnesota, hundreds of children in foster care are still waiting for their permanent family. Last year, Minnesota families adopted more than 500 children out of foster care. But the need remains critical. There are still more than 440 children currently waiting for a home. So this weekend, an event called Circus of the Heart aims to celebrate the families who have already grown through adoption and welcome anyone who might be considering fostering or adopting themselves. So joining us now is Rebecca St. George, the Assistant Commissioner for the State Department of Children, Youth and Families. Rebecca, thanks so much for joining us. Thank you. Let's start with Saturday and let's talk about this. So what exactly can families expect if they do want to come out and also who should be attending? Sure. Families can expect a really fun day. There will be experts there who people can talk to about adopting from foster care, but it's also set up for people who've already adopted, who already have grown their families through adoption. And it is mostly it's one of the most fun events we get to be involved with. There's games, there's face painting, there's henna, there's photo opportunities. There's just all kinds of fun things for kids to do and for families to do together throughout the day. It sounds like a great atmosphere and we mentioned there are more than 440 children currently waiting for a permanent home in Minnesota. You have some data on it. Who are the children waiting to be adopted at the moment? Yeah, there are about half of the kids who are waiting to be adopted are between the ages of 12 and 18. So it's a lot of older children. There's also about a quarter of them are under the age of six and then the other quarter is between that six and 12 year old. So there are a lot of kids who need I see that you put up the graphic that's exactly right it's really important for siblings to be able to stay together so those sibling adoptions are a big deal and 65 percent of the kids have needs and some of those special needs are you know physical emotional behavioral that kind of thing so it's a real diverse group of kids who are looking for permanent homes. And we know if we dig deeper into this, too, Rebecca, so the state is working on broader systemic issues as well, like African-American and indigenous families being disproportionately represented in the child welfare system. We talked about this a lot just across the country. So how is DCYF working to address those challenges while also finding homes for these children who just need good homes? Sure. Well, there's a couple of laws that we work with that address sort of the disproportionality of children being removed from their birth homes that essentially require sort of extra active efforts to try to work so that these families can stay safely together. But sometimes that doesn't work. And we work closely with our partners then, such as Foster Adopt Minnesota, to find safe, stable homes, because every kid, no matter what, deserves to have a warm loving place to be and so there's a lot of work that we do with our partner agencies with the laws that get passed to try to find homes for children when they need them. Yeah stability is so important for these young children. What is it like for you to see these children find forever families? Oh it's so wonderful and that's part of what's so great about the event on Saturday. It's a lot of families who've already grown together and it's people looking to bring families together and it's just such a it's such a joyful thing when families are able to grow together. It really impacts everyone in their extended family and everyone together and for kids to To find that safety and stability is really a wonderful experience. So if someone is watching this right now and maybe they are thinking about coming out on Saturday, what should they know? Sure. So we did require pre-registration for it, but there's also on-site registration. So people should come. It's on Saturday the 7th, and it's from 1 to 4. A little bit after the doors open at 1, there will be some programming at the beginning, but mostly it's just a chance to play. And then at 3 o'clock, there will be some grand prizes. Ooh. Okay. Well, this sounds wonderful. And this topic is just so important. And, you know, we were just looking at the ages and the breakdowns. And those ages are so crucial when you think about teenage age and just how, you know... Oh my gosh. You just need adults, good adults in their lives. And so hopefully this event will help with that. And for older children, it's just that, that family that can help them launch, but also be a place they can come back and celebrate the holidays with, you know, that home base that they so deserve. Oh, thank you so much for telling us about this and good luck this weekend. Thank you for having me on. I appreciate it. Yeah. Thanks Rebecca.