NALCS Nuevo Amanecer Latino Children’s Services (NALCS) is a bilingual, Latino, non–profit organization providing treatment foster care, adoption, and independent living services to children and families from Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino, Riverside and San Diego counties. Services are geared toward ensuring that foster children’s physical, psychological, and emotional needs are met in order to facilitate reunification with their biological families. However when family reunification is not possible, adoption is the preferred permanent plan. NALCS has been dually licensed as an adoption agency since June 30, 2009. The Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) and other public child protection organizations depend on adoption agencies such as ours to meet the growing need of finding foster children permanent homes.
The Need for Adoptive Families Nationally, 18% of the children in foster care are Hispanic, however in California, they represent 42% of the children in foster care. In 2008, there were more than 27,000 children in foster care in Los Angeles County and 1400 of them were awaiting adoptive families. Many of these children have “special needs”, a classification often given to children who are older, a minority, part of a sibling group, or who have disabilities. An overwhelming 64% of waiting children are minorities. Children who are unable to reunify with their birth families often wait three years or more to be adopted, move three or more times in foster care and often are separated from siblings. The average age of waiting children is 8 years old. NALCS recognizes the great need for adoptive families willing to open their hearts and homes for children and makes efforts to support them through their adoption journey.
Foster/Adopt All families that are certified with NALCS are “resource families.” What this means is that all families are trained for both foster care and adoption. When reunification with the birth family is not possible, permanence is sought through adoption. Often times, priority is given to the resource parents with whom the child lives. When adoption has been identified as the foster child’s permanency plan, an adoption social worker is assigned to the family if they have expressed interest in adopting the placed child. The social worker completes and/or updates the adoption home study and offers emotional support and assistance throughout the process. NALCS Adoption Department supervises each case until the adoption is finalized in court, and an adoption order is granted.
NALCS Adopted Children NALCS believes that “Every Child Deserves a Permanent Family.” As such, NALCS is committed to helping find permanent, adoptive homes for waiting children. Since receiving our adoption license in 2009, we have helped 31 children find permanent homes and assisted 20 families in adding to their family through adoption. The reasons for making the decision to adopt from foster care are unique for each family. We are available to support adoptive families through the adoption process.
