Informational meeting on becoming a foster parent set for Dec. 6

Nevada, Mo. -- More than 114,000 children are in the foster care system in the United States; some of them in Vernon County.

According to a press release from the Vernon County Children's Division, children find their way into the foster care system through abuse, neglect, abandonment and other avenues, but the result is the same; they have been permanently removed from their homes. They often spend more than five years in the foster care system waiting to be adopted. They may be moved several times and could be separated from their siblings.

Many of these kids reach the age of18 without having been adopted and are on their own. The solution is adoption, but before children can be adopted, they desperately need a safe place to live and loving family to care for them, the press release said.

Foster care families are urgently needed in Vernon County. A foster care/adoption informational meeting will be held at 6 p.m., Dec. 6, in the Vernon County Children's Division offices located at 621 East Highland Ave. Nevada, MO 64772. For more information, call (417) 448-1100.