Online information sessions, Foster Care Village virtual tours set for month of January
Adults interested in fostering and/or adopting children are invited to a live online session with Presbyterian Children’s Homes and Services (PCHAS), a partner with the Department of Family and Protective Services.
Each information session explains licensing to foster kids of all ages, whether or not the goal is adoption, and the importance of keeping siblings together.
Information sessions on foster parenting or adopting will be held at 8 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 6; at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 11; at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Jan. 22; at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 26; ad at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 31.
Presbyterian Children’s Homes and Services also invites the public to virtual tours of the Foster Care Village in Itasca, where siblings in foster care live together and foster parents are neighbors. Upcoming virtual tours will be held at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 12 and at 12:30 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 28.
For a link to all sessions and tours, call 512-212-5700 or write to FosterAdopt@pchas.org . The agency has offices in Waxahachie, Dallas, Fort Worth and other cities.
Facts about foster care in Texas
• Last year 14,857 Texas children were in un-related foster care, waiting to re-unite with their birth families or find an adoptive family. 39 percent of them (5,773) were 11 to 20 years old. (Source: DFPS Data Book)
• Another 15,000 children in Texas are being fostered by relatives. (Source: DFPS Data Book) Many are school-age and have siblings who need to stay together.
• Only 48 percent of Texas youth “aging out” will graduate or earn a GED by age 19. (Source: KIDS COUNT Data Center from the Annie E. Casey Foundation)