Good News! Foster and adoption meeting attendance in Central Texas up 36%, State says
The amount of people taking their first step toward becoming a foster or adoptive parent in Central Texas increased by more than a third year-over-year, according to data provided by the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS).
People taking the path to becoming foster or adoptive parents hold multiple meetings before taking children into their care. The meetings are a required first step to becoming a foster or adoptive parent, according to DFPS.
In 2020, 1,558 people attended a meeting, marking a 36% increase over 2019, DFPS said. It was also the highest number of participants in the past five years. Here is a year-by-year breakdown:
Shifting to virtual meetings due to the COVID-19 pandemic contributed to the record-breaking numbers, DFPS officials said. DFPS staff held in-person meetings until mid-March of 2020, and halted meetings in April before shifting to web-based sessions in May…
