EARLY YEARS: November is National Adoption Month

ROANOKE, Va. (WDBJ) - Terri Trammel loves being a foster mom.

“I started fostering when my youngest daughter was probably four. So, I’ve been fostering on and off for a while,” says Trammell.

In total, Trammel has fostered at least 10 children across several states where she’s lived.

“I want to say at the time it was a family in Phoenix that I sort of knew, and she was about to lose her children. She asked if I could take them in, and I was like, sure, because they were children,” says Trammell.

Doing a favor for an acquaintance is how her fostering journey started.

Now through HopeTree Family Services, Tramell is fostering to adopt a teenager.

”We need folks like Terri who are willing to open their home short-term, but are also willing to open up their hearts and their home to the possibility of a child being with them forever,” says Jason Masching with HopeTree Family Services.

According to the Department of Social Services, there are nearly 5,400 kids in the foster care system in Virginia.

Of those, more than 700 children are ready for adoption right now.

A national adoption campaign is underway, hoping to encourage more people to take that step.

Part of the campaign aims to dispel some common myths, including one about adoption being expensive.

“You can adopt from public foster care. A very nominal fee associated with that,” says Kamila Bunn, CEO of National Adopt Association.

She adds, “another myth that we’re trying to debunk is that single parents can’t adopt, or that you have to be married to adopt, and that is not true.”

No matter which resource you use for adopting, there’s plenty of training and support-- including help from other adoptive parents.

“There’s a big community of people out there who are adoptive parents. They’re even doing things like Facebook groups and other ways that people are staying connected and helping one another,” says Bunn.

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