Florida Cares

Yes, we know Florida sometimes get a bad rap. And yes, it's sometimes deserved. But today comes news that can make the Sunshine State truly proud.

For the second year in a row, the US Department of Health and Human Services has determined that Floridians have stepped up to permanently adopt foster kids in numbers that dwarf the rest of the nation.

"Florida has embraced a never-give-up attitude about finding families to adopt children in foster care," the state's Department of Children and Families Secretary George Sheldon said in a prepared statement, according to the Miami Herald. "Even in tough economic times, people want to adopt the children most in need of safe, loving homes."

For budget year 2009, 3,777 Florida foster children found permanent homes through adoption, DCF said Thursday. That tops the previous year, when 3,674 foster children were adopted.

And that number is likely to continue to grow. The state's child welfare administrators will receive nearly $10 million in federal funds to boost next year's adoption program.

The Congressional Coalition on Adoption also singled out Fran Allegra, the head of Our Kids, the Miami private foster care agency under contract with DCF, as an Angel in Adoption for all her work on behalf of vulnerable foster kids. She will be honored in a fancy ceremony Sept. 30th in Washington, DC.

Florida truly is the Sushine State.

Photo courtesy of cedarkayakvia Flickr.