Tabitha bakes and makes art not just because she enjoys it, but because it keeps her connected to someone she loves: her older sister. The Las Vegas teen, whose love of fashion, art, baking, and gospel music defines much of her personality, is the latest young person spotlighted by Clark County as it searches for a permanent adoptive family willing to welcome her home.
According to a post from Clark County Nevada, creativity is a source of peace for Tabitha, and baking and creating art remind her of her older sister, giving her a special way to feel connected to someone she loves. Her favorite flowers are marigolds, which she associates with her heritage, and she is Catholic, hoping to grow together in faith with whatever family eventually welcomes her. Tabitha also hopes to work with and help children with autism, a goal she carries alongside her creative pursuits.
Tabitha's profile is part of Clark County's ongoing Find My Forever campaign, a monthly effort launched in August 2023 in partnership with FOX5 Las Vegas, the Las Vegas Review-Journal, and RJ en Español to spotlight foster youth waiting for permanent homes, according to Clark County. The campaign airs dedicated adoption profiles on the second Tuesday of each month, giving local families a recurring window into the lives of children still waiting for a place to belong.
A Campaign With Measurable Results
As of August 2025, two years after the campaign began, Find My Forever had matched 18 local foster youth with permanent adoptive families and placed 16 additional children on track toward adoption, per the county's own accounting shared through the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Those numbers offer a rare, concrete look at how public spotlights like Tabitha's translate into real placements over time.
The need remains significant. On any given day in 2026, roughly 3,400 children are in Clark County's foster care system, with more than 100 youth legally free for adoption after family courts terminated parental rights, the county reports. Tabitha is one of that group, her story now part of a broader push to find homes for children whose biological family ties have already been legally severed.
A System Under Strain
That push has taken on new urgency this year. In July, Clark County's emergency shelter Child Haven reached capacity with more than 100 children in residence, prompting officials to host emergency expedited foster training to address a regional shortage of roughly 250 to 300 licensed foster homes, according to FOX5 Las Vegas. The shortage compounds another challenge facing the system: about two out of three children entering foster care in the county arrive as part of a sibling group, yet limited multi-bed foster homes mean brothers and sisters are separated into different placements roughly 58% of the time.
Nationally, adoption is not the most common outcome for children in foster care, though it remains an important one. Federal data for fiscal year 2024 shows adoptions accounted for 29.9% of all exits from Nevada foster care, while 56.1% of children exited by reunifying with biological parents or relatives. Reunification stays the primary goal of the child welfare system, with adoption serving as the path forward for children like Tabitha whose reunification is no longer possible.
What It Takes to Adopt in Nevada
Prospective adoptive parents in Nevada must meet specific legal standards. Under state law, NRS 127.020 requires adults to be at least 21 years old and at least 10 years older than the child they wish to adopt, in addition to passing criminal background and child abuse registry screenings. Clark County Family Services also contracts with the nonprofit Raise the Future to provide 30 hours of mandatory pre-service licensing training, along with post-placement trauma-informed coaching for adoptive families.
Cost is not typically a barrier. Adopting through Clark County foster care carries no agency fees beyond a $50 per-person fingerprint clearance fee, and children adopted from foster care keep lifetime eligibility for Medicaid medical coverage. Those provisions are designed to remove financial obstacles for families considering older youth or children with unique developmental or emotional needs, like the ones Tabitha hopes to one day help herself.
Tabitha's profile follows a string of recent county spotlights, including a profile of Oscar earlier this month and earlier features on teens Cashis and Kalli. Families interested in learning more about adopting Tabitha can contact Clark County Family Services' Find My Forever team by email at [email protected] or by phone at (702) 455-0800.
