Josiah is 15 and loves problem-solving, woodworking and designing houses. His sister Skyla is 12 and dreams of baking Christmas cookies and driving around to look at holiday lights with a family of her own. What they want most, according to their case profile, is simple: to be adopted together, not split up.
The siblings are featured in a profile from The Kansas City Star, which lists their case number as S-0010 through Adopt Kansas Kids, the state's official adoption exchange. Josiah and Skyla are hoping for an adoptive family that celebrates their interests and supports their goals, and one that offers quality time, structure and support, per the Star's report. Skyla likes singing along to her favorite songs, treasures her Squishmallows and American Girl dolls, and enjoys fashionable outfits, shopping trips and dress-up days. Josiah, for his part, collects his favorite books and enjoys building kits alongside his woodworking projects.
Why Keeping Siblings Together Matters
Under Kansas Department for Children and Families policy, child welfare agencies must make reasonable efforts to place siblings together in foster care, and if brothers and sisters remain separated after 90 days, a formal review must be held to evaluate reunification efforts, according to the Working with Siblings in Foster Care Toolkit. That policy reflects the emotional stability sibling bonds can provide for children moving through the foster system. Josiah and Skyla's shared wish to stay together lines up directly with that standard, even as finding families willing to take in teenage sibling sets remains an ongoing challenge statewide.
State demographic data published by AdoptUSKids shows the majority of children waiting for adoptive families in Kansas are age 8 or older, belong to a sibling group that needs to be adopted together, or have special needs — placing Josiah and Skyla squarely within that primary group of waiting youth. Older kids and sibling sets often face longer waits for permanent homes than infants do. Federal data compiled by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services shows just how large that pool is: 2,177 children in Kansas foster care were awaiting adoption in fiscal year 2024, with parental rights already terminated for 1,692 of them.
According to the Administration for Children and Families, its AFCARS dashboard provides national and state foster-care data for each fiscal year. Kansas Department for Children and Families materials show that 6,396 children were in out-of-home placements on May 31, 2022.
A Shrinking System, Still Short on Homes for Teens
Kansas has actually reduced its overall foster care population in recent years. Data reported by child welfare provider KVC Kansas showed the statewide caseload dropped below 6,000 to 5,945 children in May 2024, the lowest level since 2014, with nearly half of youth now living in kinship care with relatives. But that shift toward relative placements hasn't solved the harder problem of finding non-relative adoptive homes for older teens and sibling groups like Josiah and Skyla.
The stakes of stable placement for older youth are significant. A 2023 study by the University of Kansas School of Social Welfare found that teenagers aged 12 to 18 account for 90% of foster youth who run away from placements, underscoring why a secure, well-matched permanent home matters so much for kids nearing adulthood. Nationally, the picture is also shifting: federal statistics released by the U.S. Administration for Children and Families in September 2025 showed nationwide foster care adoptions fell to 46,935 in fiscal year 2024, a 26% decline since 2019 and the lowest level recorded since 1999.
What It Takes to Adopt in Kansas
Adopt Kansas Kids operates as the state's official adoption exchange through a contract between the nonprofit FosterAdopt Connect and the Kansas Department for Children and Families, managing the kind of profile that introduced Josiah and Skyla to prospective families. Anyone interested can reach the organization at 855-236-7857 or [email protected], or learn more at adoptkskids.org.
Getting approved isn't a quick process. Prospective adoptive parents in Kansas must complete background checks, a home assessment, and a mandatory 10-week, 30-hour pre-service training course called MAPP Foundations, according to the Children's Alliance, with the curriculum focused on trauma-informed care and shared parenting. The state also offers financial help to ease the burden: ongoing monthly subsidies, Medicaid coverage, non-recurring expense reimbursements, a 75% state tax credit for qualified adoption expenses, and a $1,500 credit for new foster adoptions, according to Families Rising.
Families who do adopt aren't left on their own afterward. The Kansas Post Adoption Resource Center, jointly operated by the Kansas Department for Children and Families and Adopt Kansas Kids, provides ongoing training, respite support and peer guidance meant to help families maintain stability and prevent placement disruption long after finalization. For Josiah and Skyla, that support structure exists to back whichever family ultimately says yes to keeping them together.
