On any given day in the metropolitan Washington region, nearly 2,000 children are living outside of their birth homes in foster care. Almost a third of these children will not go home and instead must wait for someone to adopt them.
COG’s Child Welfare Program helps finds loving homes for these foster children. COG works with local and state child welfare agencies to bolster foster and adoptive parent recruitment and retention initiatives through its Kids Need Families online resource and the Families Like Yours Campaign. COG partners with NBC4 Washington on Wednesday’s Child, a television segment that features children who are waiting in foster care to be adopted. For youth who have aged out or are at risk of aging out of foster care, COG has launched the Trailblazer Project which provides critical support to students attending college, university or trade school.
COG's child welfare technical committees provide a platform for this work, supporting local governments in the region through technical assistance and providing a gathering place to discuss and track trends in foster care and adoption.
You can support COG’s adoption and foster care programs through a tax-deductible, charitable donation.
News & Multimedia
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News
November 13, 2017
November is National Adoption Month. This month highlights the need for families to foster and adopt youth in the foster care system. Find out what you can do...
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News
July 13, 2017
The number of children in foster care in the region has declined by 45 percent over the last eight years, says a new COG report.
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News
May 10, 2017
Foster parents from 10 jurisdictions across the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia were honored by the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments...
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News
May 11, 2016
Foster parents from 10 jurisdictions across the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia were honored by the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments...
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Photo Gallery
March 8, 2016
Wednesday's Child children for adoption
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News
May 27, 2015
In May, the COG Board recognized the 2015 Foster Parents of the Year for opening their hearts and homes to children in need. The honorees from Charles County,...
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News
May 15, 2015
Outstanding foster parents from 10 jurisdictions around metropolitan Washington were honored May 13 by the COG Board of Directors as the region’s 2015 Foster...
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News
November 4, 2014
November is National Adoption Month. It is an annual campaign to increase public awareness of the half million children who are waiting to be adopted from...
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News
November 3, 2014
The Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (COG) is re-launching a photo project to highlight and find loving homes for teenagers in foster care across...