BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — It's been five years since Lori and her daughter, Kylee, met for the first time.
"She was just this little 9-year-old girl…and I just fell in love instantly," said Lori.
In 2018 Lori decided it was time for her to start her family.
"I always wanted to be a mom. And so many years ago I was a single person. I decided I was going to figure out how to do that on my own," she explained.
Her journey to adoption brought her to Adoption Star in Amherst. The adoption agency works with people who are hoping to start families in New York, Ohio and Florida, and connects them with kids who are available for adoption all over the country.
Lori made an appointment to get some information, and what she learned ended up changing her life.
"The lady that was talking to me asked 'were you interested in infant adoption or older child adoption?' — and I said infant adoption," she explained. "And in the back of my head, I thought – why not older child adoption? I don't even know what that is."
The Adopt an Older Kid program, also known as A-OK, is a program that connects children who are older with forever families.
"We're really in need of families always who are open to adopting kids up through their teens who are looking for a forever home," explained Adoption Star Executive Director Zack Fried. "These are permanent placements of children who are in foster care – but parental rights have been terminated. So they're now able to find a forever home."
Most of the kids in the program are eight and older, and he says you might not realize how many children are in that position.
"There are over 115,000 children in the US foster care system who are freed for adoption legally. It's a huge need. When you think about two football stadiums worth of people – all of those being children who need homes and are available right now for homes. That's quite an image," Fried said.
The agency offers information sessions, classes, and a lot of support for families and the kids in the program.
Fried says adopting in this age range is something even older adults can do, because the kids are older, and have different needs. He also says the people and couples who adopt are from all different backgrounds, which is wonderful, because so are the kids.
"We love working with a diverse population of people, because this is about the needs of the children, and their identities are so diverse. We want families to be able to connect with these children in various different unique ways, and relate to them in a lot of different ways!" he explained.
Across the country, kids age out of the foster care system at 18 or 21. Fried says - that's something many of these children think about.
"As a child gets older and older they're counting down to that. And not in a positive way. But will I reach young adulthood…and not have a family?" he explained.
Today, Lori and her daughter say their life together is the same as any other family. Kylee loves school and talking to her friends, and she and Lori go shopping and out to eat all the time. Lori says if adoption is something you're thinking about, consider learning about adopting an older kid, because you can change lives.
"This is a way to start a family and have a family. This is how you can do it. And it's a beautiful thing," she said.
If you want to learn more about Adoption Star and the programs the organization offers, check out this link.
One of the organizations that helps find forever homes for children is called the Heart Gallery New York. If you watch the story connected with this article, you will see some of the children available for adoption right now. Adoption Star can help you connect with those children, or you can go to the Heart Gallery website to learn more.
