More Latinos are becoming foster parents or adopting, but need is still great: A college lecture inspired Ray and Connie Gallego to consider what most Latinos still haven’t completely opened up to: adoption.
“My wife and I were working diligently into our successful careers and decided to start a family. We continued trying for years and weren’t successful,” recalls Ray. “I told myself that I needed to act now and start researching adoption agencies.” The desire to raise a child outweighed all the odds against them. After one year into the adoption process, the Gallegos finally brought home their first child, Cristina. The Gallegos described it as “love at first sight.” A couple of years later, the family adopted a sibling pair, Ruby and Anthony.
The system is already short of foster parents. The amount of Latino foster parents is even smaller. There’s a crucial need and hope to raise awareness about the situation.
But like the Gallegos, more Latinos are gradually coming forward to adopt and foster children, as they get increasingly informed of the process and feel welcomed by agencies whose mission is to meet this need. The U.S. Children’s Bureau Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS) reports that the percent of public agency adoptions by parents of Hispanic ethnicity has increased every year between 2002 and 2010 to 15.5%.
