(LEX 18) — 8,200.
That’s how many children are currently “out of home care,” according to the Kentucky Cabinet of Health and Family Services.
So many kids don’t have a reliable place to call home and are reliant on adults to go through the adoption or foster care eligibility process.
It starts with what is the difference in those processes.
“Adoption is a permanent placement. The adoption process is really a court process,” Secretary of Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services Eric Friedlander said.
“In order to become a foster parent, there’s a training process. That training will include how to manage a child’s behavior and how that interface might occur with the Department of Community-Based Services. We look for some strong parenting tips and strengths in foster families.”
Erin and Tim Gibson went through that process years ago but came upon an opportunity to adopt unorthodoxly.
They went from Asbury grads to marriage and raising a family in Wilmore over the last 20 years.
“It’s been very good. Especially having kids that you want to know their neighbors. You want your neighbors to know their kids. You want people to be watching out for your family, and that happens in Wilmore,” Erin Gibson said.
The Gibsons have always tried to watch out for others.
Consideration and compassion ultimately led them down the path of adoption.
“Our whole marriage, we’ve offered our home as a respite for people,” Gibson said.
“It felt pretty natural to think, why couldn’t we have a child come into our home and care for them like they’re our own? We do that with other people, so why not with children.”
However, rather than getting placed with a child, their kids, in a way, came to them.
The Gibson’s first daughter worked for them at Solomon’s Porch before asking to be adopted, while their second adoption came through their church community, connecting with a young brother and sister who needed a new place to call home.
“In these situations, we felt very clear the Lord was asking us to take these children into our home. These kids need a loving home; they need to be provided for. They need a place to get started getting ready for the next step in their lives,” Gibson said.
Friedlander referenced faith communities as the best places to find potential foster parents.
“We recruit from our churches and communities of faith. Oftentimes, people feel called to really help children, and this is a way that people can do that,” Friedlander said.
The Cabinet for Health and Family Services shared some data with LEX 18 on state adoption and foster care numbers.
According to that report, of the roughly 8,200 children in foster care in Kentucky, more than half of them (4,135) are six years old or older when they enter the system.
The average age of a Kentucky kid in the system right now is 10 years old.
That data also showed over 30% of children want to eventually be adopted, while 53% hope to reunify with their birth families after foster care.
The last is a situation Greg and Valerie Buccola know all too well.
After learning having kids of their own was not in the cards, they turned to the world of foster care.
Over the last 10 years, the couple has adopted four children and cared for more than 30 others.
“Once we got into it and saw what the need was, it was hard to stop. It was hard to say no because they’re just kids, and they need a home to go to,” Valerie Buccola said.
“Every situation has been entirely different from the prior. The needs are different. The traumas are different. The outcomes are different. The why is different. The common thread is that they all just want to be loved,” Greg Buccola said.
The Buccolas have ultimately become advocates for adoption and foster care.
Valerie has gotten involved with Kentucky Kids Belong, a branch of a nationwide effort to improve the experience and outcome for children in the foster care system.
Ultimately working to break the stigma surrounding adoption and foster care.
“That people foster for money or as a paycheck. That they don’t really care about the kids. That they’re just trying to do it so they don’t have to work. I will tell you right now that’s not the reason,” Valerie Buccola said.
“We don’t get enough payment to keep the lights on and the emotional struggles that go with it.”
“There are kids waiting right now for you to consider being a foster parent right now. They’re hoping and praying that you're saying yes, and you haven’t even met them yet,” Greg Buccola said.
“It’s going to be work and take some time, and there will be trying moments. It will be so worth it.”
The Buccolas recommend anyone interested in adopting or fostering look into respite care to start entering the world as a caregiver.
To learn more about Kentucky's adoption and foster care process, click here.
