SAN ANTONIO – You can learn about Texas children who are up for adoption anytime, anywhere.
The Texas Adoption Resource Exchange, or TARE, website, run by the state’s Department of Family and Protective Services, compiles pictures and small profiles of all the children in Texas who are legally free for adoption.
Being “legally free” for adoption means DFPS has terminated the parental rights to the child.
How to get the adoption process started in order to become licensed
You can search for a child based on name, age, gender, ethnicity or region of the state.
You can also specify whether you’re interested in looking at the profiles of sibling groups or children with special needs.
The information you can see about a child once your search is complete depends on whether or not you’re licensed to foster or adopt.
“If they’re not, then they are able to see the picture of the child and what’s called a tag line, which is kind of a brief description of the child," said Kane Jaggers, Independent Living and Adoption Supervisor for Family Tapestry. “For example, maybe the child’s name and picture with ‘I’m looking for a family to play football with.’ Something short and sweet.”
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If you are licensed to foster or adopt in the state of Texas, and have a profile on TARE, you can see more.
“Such as their likes and dislikes. Maybe a little more about what kind of family we’re looking for for that child,” said Jaggers. “And different needs the child may have.”
Another perk of being licensed when surfing TARE? When you submit a question about a child you might be interested in adopting, whoever receives the inquiry will be able to read your home study to provide feedback within three days.
But you don’t have to be licensed to ask a question about adoption or a specific child via the website.
Think of it as a place to start if you’re interested in knowing more about Texas children in need of a forever home.
“A lot of times I think that we think they look a certain way, and really our children are individuals and they all are just like our own kids and go to school with our own children and in our backyards and playing in our neighborhoods,” Jagger said. “I think its a good idea for them to go to this website so that they can see that these children are just like any other child in our community. They just need a forever home.”