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The 32nd Annual DC Adoption Day was filled with parents ready to change a little ones's life

It was the 32nd Annual DC Adoption Day adoption day in the District, but there are still so many who still need a place to call home.

WASHINGTON -- Saturday morning, 22 families got a little bigger. Some parents even adopting siblings.

It was the 32nd Annual DC Adoption Day adoption day in the District, but there are still so many who still need a place to call home.

At the District of Columbia Superior Court, 31 children went home with families to call their own.

Typically, Child and Family services try to get children who are in foster care back to their birth parents.

It works in most cases, but for those who cannot go home their hope leans on legal guardianship or adoption.

Mayor Muriel Bowser -- who recently adopted a baby girl-- shared words of comfort with the new parents.

More than 800 DC minors are living under the public child welfare system. Most are African American teenagers.

Nearly half of the 800 minors are placed in Maryland, but the goal is to keep them in their own community. That is the reason more foster homes are needed in the District.

According to the Child and Family Services Agency (CFSA) website, there are between 50 and 60 minors in need of an adoptive home at any given time. Most are African American.

On average, 80 percent are ages 12 to 20. About 15 percent are ages 6 to 11. Only about five percent are age five or younger. Infants are rare.

At the time this article was written, there were 75 children and teens waiting to be placed with a family.

Here is the link to the process.

CFSA offers training to prospective foster and adoptive parents.

To see children available for adoption from CFSA, visit these sites:

www.adoptuskids.org

www.adoptionstogether.org/adopting/ adopt-an-older-child/heart-gallery

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