In recognition of Foster Care Awareness Month, RTV6 is sharing stories about foster care in central Indiana and ways that you can help make a difference.
INDIANPOLIS — There are currently more than 14,000 children in Indiana’s foster care system. Many foster parents say the children they've taken into their home have been placed in the system as a result of the opioid crisis.
Recent data shows that more than half of the children currently in the state's system had at least one parent dealing with drug abuse. Many foster families say the opioid crisis is directly impacting the need for care.
Steffanie and Craig Brown have seen the impact first hand. The couple took in a family member's baby who was born addicted to heroin.
Steffanie Brown says they were contacted by Department of Child Services and told the baby girl was no longer going to be placed with her biological parents.
The Brown family decided to adopt the little girl and Steffanie stayed at the hospital while the infant detoxed.
“The seizing and the shaking and the diaper rash and the bleeding… and the vomiting. To watch a child do that, and I was there for 18-20 hours each day, that’s really hard to do," said Steffanie.
The family describes the experience as heartbreaking and life changing. It was so impactful that they took in more foster children. The Brown family is adopting their second daughter this week.
Stories like this one are becoming more and more common. Every 25 minutes in America, a baby is born suffering from opioid withdrawal.
If you are interested in learning more about fostering children or other ways to help visit https://www.in.gov/dcs/2984.htm
