AUGUSTA, Maine — The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) has partnered with Spurwink to relaunch the A Family for ME program. The centerpiece of this program is a statewide initiative to generate awareness and educate the public about the urgent need for more foster, adoptive, and kinship families to help children who need a safe and loving home.
A Family for ME is a statewide recruitment campaign to identify, support, and inform families interested in becoming foster and adoptive parents for children who are in the custody of the Maine Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS).
Since A Family for ME relaunched in January 2017, recruitment specialists have been travelling the state to meet and engage with key collaborative partners in the business, education, faith and social service communities. Most importantly, the recruiters have been engaging with families and individuals who are interested in making a difference in the lives of children in Maine.
According to A Family for ME recruiter Amanda Sproul, Maine currently has approximately 1,800 children in out-of-home care, including 500 children who are waiting to be legally adopted. A Family for ME has a mission of finding permanency for those children who have yet to find a forever family.
A Family for ME’s goal is to increase the number of licensed foster and adoptive homes in Maine by 10 percent in 2018. While children of all ages currently in out-of-home care need help, there is a particularly urgent need for families who have the ability to parent adolescents and teenagers, sibling groups with more than two children, and infants who may have been affected by drugs in utero.
Maine residents have been significantly impacted by the opioid epidemic, and none more so than families with young children. In the last 10 years, there has been a significant increase in infants entering foster care, said Sproul.
Those who are 21 or older, have a stable lifestyle and have considered being a foster parent may contact A Family for ME at 1 (844) 893-6311, or visit www.afamilyformemaine.org.
