Blog

Area VIII Adoption Coalition Meeting Minutes

August  13,  2008

The final group meeting of Area VIII Adoption Coalition was held at noon at St. Bernards Auditorium in Jonesboro, AR.  As per usual for August meetings, attendance was quite low---18 people attended. 

Click here to read the meeting minutes in entirety.  Area VIII Adoption Coalition August 08' Minutes

Celebrate Magazine "2008 Most Fascinating People"

As a mother of five children in a blended biological and adoptive family structure, she truly understands the importance of helping these children without families find homes.

Her mission is to serve as an advocate for the 400 or so children in foster care in Arkansas who are waiting to be adopted; these children range from toddlers to teens and include sibling groups and special needs children.

The Arkansas Adoption Resource Exchange uses a data matching system to find families for children available for adoption waiting in foster care.  This system contains in state and out of state families.  When children become available for adoption their information is entered into this data matching system.  A 'data match' is then run for the child.  All families who 'match' the child are sent to the child's adoption specialist.  The adoption specialist then contacts families about the child.

Families who reside in the state of Arkansas and have completed all the steps to adopt a child in state custody can check to make sure their information has been entered into the data matching system.  If you are not receiving child referrals, it may be that your information hasn't been entered into the data matching system or is not entered correctly.  Contact Linda Dismuke at linda.dismuke@arkansas.gov  501-682-8959 to check your information. 

Families outside Arkansas can be added to the state's data matching system by filling out the 409 Form and sending it with their homestudy to:

Dear Senator Lincoln:

On behalf of the 3,729 children living in Arkansas’s foster care system, we thank you for your support of the Improved Adoption Incentives Program and Relative Guardianship Support Act of 2008 (S. 3038) and the Kinship Caregiver Support Act (S. 661).  As one of the co-sponsors of the Adoption Incentive Program Reauthorization Act in 2003, you know the vital role this legislation has played in helping children leave foster care for good.  From inception in 1998 through 2006, this bipartisan program has helped almost 450,000 children nationwide leave foster care for safe, permanent adoptive families.  Your continued leadership on this issue as a member of the Senate Finance Committee is especially crucial to ensuring the reauthorization of this important program, which is part of Title IV of the Social Security Act and within the jurisdiction of the Senate Finance Committee.