Dear Editor,
Fostering and adoption have always been a part of my life. At just five years old, I told people I wanted to serve at an orphanage in India. When I was about eight, my family began fostering, and a year later, we adopted my brother. Today, my family includes five adopted siblings, four of whom joined us through foster care. Every day, I am deeply grateful for how our family has come together so beautifully and purposefully.
I was recently crowned Miss Mission Georgia in a national social justice advocacy competition. As Georgia’s titleholder, I hope to raise awareness about fostering and adoption. The need is immense here, and I’ve seen firsthand how desperately more families are needed to answer this call.
According to the last AFCARS report, 10,997 children were in foster care and 1,521 were waiting for adoption in Georgia in 2023. In the same year, only 4,559 foster homes were licensed in the state to meet this demand, and that number had dropped by 40% since 2019, with a massive decline after the pandemic. The lower number of families meant more children ended up in multiple or non-ideal placements, and many never found a home, as evidenced by the 562 Georgian youth who aged out of care in 2023. These emancipated youth often end up with higher rates of depression, homelessness, poverty, and unemployment.
This reality makes me all the more aware of the importance of creating loving, stable homes for children from all backgrounds. My own family is beautifully diverse — with about six different races represented among my siblings alone. The adjustment was not difficult; rather, it was a privilege to learn about my adoptive siblings’ heritages and blend them into our family’s story.
In Georgia, many of the youth in foster care come from different cultural and ethnic backgrounds (51% identify as Black or African-American and 7% Hispanic). Research from the National Council For Adoption shows that the majority of adoptees, even those adopted by families of a different ethnicity, are satisfied with their adoption experience and life post-adoption, and that it is possible to incorporate diversity into family rhythms through food, traditions, and celebrations. For these reasons, I hope more Georgians will be willing to foster or adopt outside of their own culture and race.
While foster care is often seen as a national crisis, there are children waiting right here in our own communities, and local families, businesses, and churches all have vital roles to play in building sustainable solutions for youth.
Even those who are unable to become foster parents can do their part — participate in social worker appreciation events, financially sponsor a family, donate to care closets or deliver essential items, like meals, bedding, diapers, and wipes. By coming together, we can help more biological families stay together or reunite and wrap around the foster and adoptive families who are opening up their homes on a temporary or permanent basis.
My family’s journey into adoption and fostering has touched my life in a profound way. Watching my siblings grow, accomplish things they might never have had the chance to do, and embrace who they are has inspired me to make a difference and has made me a more compassionate person.
I believe a person doesn’t have to be extra special in order to change a child’s life; they just have to be willing to say “yes.”
Abigail Mongillo
Miss Mission Georgia
Augusta, Ga.
