"Without hope you have no trust in anything or anyone."

This Op-Ed in the LA Times is well worth the read. This particularly stuck me: "...nearly 50% of all children who enter county foster care are 5 or younger."

Nearly 50 percent. Are 5 or younger.

I was talking to some coworkers recently about adoption and specifically, about adopting an older child out of foster care.

One coworker, married, has 2 beautiful young children, and her baby boy just turned 1 year old. She developed diabetes during the last month of her pregnancy. She was explaining how she had been telling her husband that she did not want to put her body through that again. She said if they want another child, they will adopt, but only a baby or toddler. She thinks that after that the children have been too affected, will be too hard to fit into the family.

The other coworker is still very young, still single. I think she basically agreed with the married lady, but also she was telling her that she understood my position, that the older kids need help, too. (I don't believe that it's too late to help them, too late to make a difference.)

But now I read this, I am armed for the next time it comes up: Nearly 50 percent. Are 5 or younger. They are not too old, to damaged already to become part of your family.

But me, I'll still want to help an older child.