Md. couple bonds with teen as interest grows in adopting older foster children

Once there was the idea of a child. Now there is Frenice: a middle-schooler who steeled her way through 14 foster homes before moving last summer to a comfortable Prince George's County neighborhood, where Sharon and Michael Rollins embraced her as their daughter.

There were family dinners. Tuesday evenings at church. Homework after school. Cousins and summer camps and a 13th birthday party.

A year into her new life, Frenice's adoption was made final Friday morning in an Upper Marlboro courtroom -- amid happy tears and quiet celebration -- as the Rollins family became another example of a growing interest in adopting foster children, which many hope will extend to older youths, who are the hardest to place.

The trend comes amid a sharp decline in overseas adoptions, which have fallen by more than 40 percent since 2005 as many countries tightened regulations, or stopped foreign adoptions altogether and the recession put the cost beyond the reach of some prospective parents. Meanwhile, in this country, 123,000 foster kids are waiting to be adopted.

The willingness of more people to consider foster children is visible at the Joint Council on International Children's Services. Three years ago, just 30 percent of the group's 158 adoption services providers offered domestic and foster placements, says council President Tom DiFilipo. Now 85 percent do. "Families are looking for every option they can," he says.

The most recent national numbers, from 2008, show a 7 percent increase in adoptions of foster children. The overwhelming majority of those are by foster parents or relatives, but DiFilipo and others say they've seen a discernable rise in interest by nonrelatives.

The Rollins family adopted 13-year-old Frenice through a Barker Foundation program called Project Wait No Longer, which matches adoptive parents with foster children 6 and older.

So far, 20 children have been matched or placed -- a small percentage of total adoptions at Barker, a nonprofit group that has been doing Washington area adoptions for 65 years. But applications and interest are up this year, says project director Bev Clarke.

Some parents fear they won't be effective with children who may have been neglected or abused, she says. Not all are suited, but "we try to educate our families that what the kids need are stable homes where they can be safe, and to have people who . . . will be consistent, who will stick with them regardless of the challenges along the way."

Eager to adopt

For Sharon and Michael Rollins, both 43, the leap of faith was not hard to make. Sharon, a real estate appraiser, was adopted as a baby and decided long ago that she, too, would adopt. She and Michael, a management specialist for Verizon, wed 12 years ago, and he shared her views about "the tremendous need," he says.

They were open to a child -- or siblings -- ages 6 to 16. "We did not have any reservations about age whatsoever," Sharon says. "To look for the perfect child, or someone to be a mirror image of the parent, that is not realistic."

Frenice's arrival followed a lengthy process of home studies, recommendations, medical exams, financial reports and background checks. At one point, the couple switched agencies. Twice, they had letdowns when children they selected were adopted by their foster families, who get priority.