Adoption agencies seeking local families

Adoption agencies seeking local families

By Elise Preston
NewsChannel10

AMARILLO--- Millions of children around the world are without permanent homes. Thousands of Texas children are also waiting to be placed with families.

Locally based international adoption agency, Little Miracles, tells NewsChannel10, adoptions have slowed down over the past year. Saturday, the organization will host an educational seminar about international adoptions for local families. Currently, the organization matches families with children from 10 different countries, including: Russia, Mexico, and China.

In the Panhandle area, more than 350 children are legally available for adoption.  In the state of Texas, that number grows to nearly 6,000 children.  According to case workers at the Panhandle Assessment Center, the majority of kids in the custody of Child Protective Services, have been with CPS for years.

"We have 14 and 15-year-olds who have been in the system for 8 years.  They constantly think 'will I ever have a family, will I ever get adopted?' Then you watch the adoption occur and it's such a beautiful thing because all their dreams come to fruition" said Kevin Howard with PAC.

PAC is the primary care source for Amarillo and surrounding areas.  At any given time, dozens of children live at the center with trained staff.