More adopting children than fostering

Article by Sheria Brathwaite

Barbadians are preferring to adopt children rather than being foster parents.

This has become a concern for the Child Care Board as the majority of children staying at the Government agency’s seven residential homes are older than the “unofficial” adoption age.

Senior child care officer Colin St Hill said there were 110 children under their care with the majority aged five to 11.

“We have a waiting list of persons who want to adopt children and we don’t have enough children available for adoption to satisfy the need,” he said. “We don’t have enough people wanting to be foster parents. So far, we have only approved 14 and we hope to increase that number to 20 by yearend. (SB)

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