An additional $7 million in state funding to help support a broad range of adoption-related services administered through the New York State Office of Children and Family Services is bringing the State’s two-year adoption-related investments to $29.8 million.
New York State has also received $3.074 million in federal funding for services that support adoptive families. State and federal funding is used for a broad range of OCFS permanency initiatives, which include recruiting adoptive parents; Regional Permanency Resource Centers which provide pre- and post-adoption services and resources; and partnerships with numerous voluntary agencies and private foundations who support these efforts.
“This funding is part of our ongoing commitment to New York’s children and will help us provide even more young people with loving families and a place they can call home once and for all,” Governor Hochul said. “As a mother myself, I know how important a stable, supportive household is for a child’s positive development.”
Governor Hochul also issued a proclamation declaring November National Adoption Awareness Month in New York State.
Wednesday’s adoption awareness event also celebrated individuals who are helping transform child welfare services by providing secure, temporary environments for children through foster care, kinship and fictive kin care, and informal guardianships that allow children to be reunited with their families when it is safe to do so. It was also a call to action for prospective parents to open their hearts by opening their homes to youth who are historically harder to place, including older youth or those facing unique challenges.
The event also celebrated the thousands of adoptive parents statewide who have answered the call and stepped forward to make a life-long commitment to love and embrace children in foster care. In New York State, nearly 9,000 children in foster care have been adopted since 2017. A video expressing gratitude for adoptive families is being displayed at Thruway rest stops and New York State Department of Motor Vehicles offices during this week and next.
