This year, 14 children in Covington County have received forever homes.

Covington County DHR Director Lesa Syler said that there are three more adoptions that are in the works that could come to fruition before year end.

Those adoptions are direct effects of the growing foster care program in Covington County.

Syler and staff have worked diligently to garner more attention and attract more foster families to facilitate the ever-growing number of foster children in Covington County.

There are more than 50 foster children in Covington County, and there are about 30 foster homes.

That number has grown from just one in 2011.

November is National Adoption Month, an awareness project designed to increase national awareness and bring attention to the need for permanent families for children and youth in the U.S. foster care system.

Each year, the initiative focuses its outreach and awareness-raising efforts around a new adoption-related theme.

For the 2017 National Adoption Month initiative, the theme “Teens Need Families, No Matter What,” highlights the importance of identifying well-prepared and committed families for the thousands of teenagers in foster care.

Heart Gallery Alabama is a non-profit organization dedicated to finding forever families for children in Alabama’s foster care system by raising awareness and educating the public.

The Alabama Department of Human Resources to display children in foster care, who need forever homes.

Syler said they utilize Heart Gallery, when needed, but try to use local homes.