A new child always makes a family happier and it is no different with Sandra Bullock and boyfriend Bryan Randall.
The Oscar winner actress recently adopted a second child, a baby girl this time, called Laila. As this move from Bullock hit the news, the fact that a there are still hundreds of thousands of children in foster care waiting to find families they can be a part of. Not everyone is so lucky, however, hence the experts weighed in and answered important questions.
In an interview with People, Bullock says, "There are so many kids out there who so badly want to have families. What's heartbreaking is that some of these kids don't get love. It's our duty to help."
According to the U.S. government's 2014 Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System data, an estimated 415,129 kids were in foster care, with 107,918 waiting to be adopted last year.
There are several resources to learn about adoption and Bullock's one of favorites is Alliance for Children's Rights, an L.A.-based organization that provides free legal aid and advocacy for impoverished, abused and neglected children.
Another resource, which the news magazine cited, is AdoptUSKids, a federally funded in the US, the only one, actually. National project director who has worked in the field for 43 years, Kathy Ledesma, sat down with People and answered some important questions regarding adoption.
How are kids usually adopted out of the foster care system?
For the past several years, about 85 percent of the children who are adopted from foster care are adopted either by their relatives or by a non-relative temporary foster parent. Those that are adopted by foster parents, the children were placed with them only on a temporary basis to give the child's family time to sort out the issues in their home...
How do families who aren't relatives or foster parents adopt?
We call those adoption-only families, so these are families who approach the child welfare system with an interest in only adopting a child from foster care, only adopting. In most states, those families have to become approved both to provide foster care and adopt because when a child is placed into a family, even if it's for the purpose of adoption, until that adoption is finalized by the court... [full interview may be seen at People's website.]
Meanwhile, Bryan Randall is also head over heels over Laila, E! News reports. He takes the photos of the family but he actually is in the picture of the whole thing himself.
