Special to the Advocate

The Department of Human Resources (DHR) placed more than 380 children with adoptive families during Fiscal Year 2006.

The agency placed 325 children with adoptive families in Fiscal 2005 and 315 in Fiscal Year 2004.

DHR Commissioner Page Walley said the expediting foster parent adoptions by county workers and the hiring of additional staff in the Office of Adoptions helped increase the number of placements.

&#8220The increased placements show the progress that has been made in identifying forever families for foster children who are available for adoption.

During Adoption Awareness Month, which is observed each year in November, we celebrate the families that have expended through adoption while being mindful that many other Alabama children still don't have permanent homes,” Commissioner Walley said.

The Director of the Butler County Department of Human Resources, Frieda Stevens, said having a forever family provides comfort and security that is invaluable to the healthy growth and development of a child.

&#8220The lives of the adoptive families are also enriched when they welcome these children who have waited so anxiously for a permanent home,” Stevens said.

At the end of Fiscal Year 2006, there were approximately 630 waiting Alabama children for whom the plan was adoption.

For approximately 380 of these children, the plan was for them to be adopted by their current foster parents.

However, the remaining 250 waiting children have no adoptive family identified and require recruitment for a forever family.

For more information about adoptions, contact the Butler County Department of Human Resources at (334) 382-4400, or the state DHR Office of Adoptions at (334) 242-9500.

Information is also available on the department's Wed site: www.dhr.state.al.us. Click on Services, and select Adoption on the drop-down menu.