MONTGOMERY — The Alabama Department of Human Resources finalized 741 foster care adoptions in 2023, according to Gov. Kay Ivey in an announcement Nov. 17.

The announcement comes during November’s National Adoption Month, a month set aside to raise awareness about the need for adoptive families and to acknowledge those impacted by adoption.

“I am extremely proud that Alabama has been able to place so many children in permanent homes,” Ivey said. “I appreciate the tireless and dedicated work of the Department of Human Resources and our state’s numerous private partners. I also sincerely thank our foster families and adoptive families for giving these children loving, forever homes.”

According to ADHR, nearly 70 percent of children who left foster care returned home to family members or their parent(s) in 2023, which ended Sept. 30.

“We are proud to have found permanency for these 741 children and youth that deserve forever families,” said ADHR Commissioner Nancy Buckner. “We could not have accomplished this without our partners in the permanency and adoption process, especially the judges, adoptive parents and foster parents.”

In its most recent “Adoption by the Numbers” report, the National Council For Adoption reports that the total number of domestic adoptions in Alabama in 2019 was 1,778 with adoptions through private agencies or sources making up 59 percent.

Approximately 53 percent of the more than 1,700 domestic adoptions in 2020 were through private adoptions, and public adoptions (or adoptions of children in state custody) comprised 47 percent of the total number of domestic adoptions, according to NCFA.

Currently, there are approximately 6,000 children and youth in Alabama’s foster care system, and 196 are awaiting an adoptive family through the state.

“Always remember that there are no unwanted children, only unfound homes,” Buckner said.

For information regarding the adoption process in Alabama, visit https://dhr.alabama.gov/adoption/. More information on becoming a foster parent can be found at https://dhr.alabama.gov/foster-care/.