YOU GOTTA BELIEVE THE OLDER CHILD ADOPTION & PERMANENCY MOVEMENT
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Mission Statement
You Gotta Believe is one of a precious few organizations in the U.S and the only organization in the New York City Metro area that solely limits its practice to finding permanent parents and families for young adults, teens, and pre-teens in the foster care system. We were founded with a mission to find adoptive parents for pre-teens, teens and young adults before they age out of the foster care system and run the extremely high risk of becoming homeless.
About This Cause
Our vision is that no young person will ever age out of foster care at all. We believe that there is no child, teen or even young adult that is unadoptable and that every young person has the right to a permanent and unconditional support of a lifetime parent. We believe that nothing about a child, including “negative behavior” has anything to do with their need or right to a family. Our work is based on the unwavering conviction that a permanent family is a realistic possibility for all teens in foster care, even those older youth seemingly destined to age-out of the system as they turn 21. We work with youth age 10 and up, but specialize in older teens (16-21) getting close to aging out of care. We work with teens, some who come from “broken adoptions”, many LGBTQ youth, and teens with babies who need a loving home to help break the cycle of being in foster care. We know it can be done. Kids CAN be connected to families. Over the past 18 years, YGB has developed a team of dedicated and superbly qualified permanency advocates and adoption professionals, and a youth-focused service model that has proven extremely successful in getting youth adopted into permanent homes. We have worked to place more than 450 youth with permanent parents over the years, and trained and prepared hundreds of parents to make an unconditional, lifetime commitment to a teenager through moral and legal adoption. But, with so many of youth at risk, we have a long way to go to achieve our vision that no child ages out of care. It is a very time intensive process to recruit, train and support youth and their adoptive families. This vision also requires massive systemic change and political will so we also focus significant resources on outreach, advocacy, and training. And we need the help of the community. You may not be in a position to parent, but there are many ways you can get involved. Learn more about the issues here in New York, or find out about the needs of youth at risk of aging out in your state or community. Make yourself aware of opportunities to help with your time or talents or support. And of course, if you are interested in learning more about the process of becoming an lifetime parent to a young person who needs you, please join us for an orientation session to learn more. We welcome all capable families and individuals who would like to provide a permanent and loving home for our city’s youth and young adults. We welcome singles and couples, regardless of age, sex, race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression; physical characteristics, marital or domestic partnership status, medical or disability status.