HURRICANE, WV (WVNS)– November is here, which means many will be heading home for the holidays to be with family. It’s important to remember, however, the thousands of kids in foster care with no family to go home to.

More than 114,000 children and teens in U.S. foster care are waiting to be adopted and are at risk of aging out of their facilities.

November is National Adoption Month, and is a month set aside to raise awareness for these children. In West Virginia alone, more than 6,000 children are in foster care and in need of finding a loving family.

Mission West Virginia is an organization dedicated to placing every child in a permanent home.

“We want to always reunify if that’s in the best interest of the child, but secondary is permanency which leads to adoption. So, we need all different types of families who are willing to provide that safe and loving family and space for children who are in foster care,” said Kylee Hassan, Marketing Director for Mission West Virginia.

Hassan added that out of 6,197 children in foster care, 1,156 are legally eligible for adoption in the state of West Virginia.

Some ways to help raise awareness are to start a conversation with a friend about the fostering need, share a graphic on social media or contact Mission West Virginia to learn additional ways to directly help youth in care.

Mission West Virginia has helped foster care and adoption families for 26 years. Their goal this year is to focus on capturing the diverse experiences of adoption from foster care and create a deeper understanding of the realities of foster care adoption.

If you would like to learn more and receive information about foster care and/or adoption, please contact Mission West Virginia at 1-866-CALL-MWV,  fosteradopt@missionwv.org or visit www.missionwv.org.