A Dayton couple has made it official: Jennifer Kremer and her husband adopted all six children they had been fostering, closing out more than four years of caring for the kids with a permanent place in their family. The adoptions were finalized Monday, timed to coincide with National Adoption Day.
The Kremers became foster parents more than four years before a judge approved the adoptions this week, according to WKEF / Dayton 24/7 Now. All six children arrived in the Kremers' home during that stretch, and Jennifer Kremer said she and her husband felt a lasting connection with each of them.
Montgomery County Commissioner Mary McDonald attended the adoption ceremony and encouraged other families to consider fostering or adopting. McDonald said she had adopted her own son after starting out as a foster parent herself, and she echoed Kremer's call for more families to step up.
A Rewarding but Not Always Easy Road
Kremer said fostering and adopting can be rewarding, though she was candid that not every day is easy. Her comments reflect a recurring theme at Montgomery County adoption events over the years, where families finalizing new placements have described both the joy and the difficulty of the process.
The county has held National Adoption Day celebrations for years. In 2017, twelve children were adopted in Montgomery County as part of the holiday, the station reported at the time, with families like Cyndi Swafford's welcoming a fifth child and completing a third adoption, and new mother Latisha Heath adopting her first child. By 2023, the county had grown that annual event to 14 finalized adoptions, matching a record set the year before.
Fewer Foster Families, More Kids Waiting
The milestone comes against a backdrop of strain in Ohio's foster system. As of 2023, more than 3,000 children statewide, including about 100 in Montgomery County, were reported to be waiting for permanent families, according to Montgomery County. That year the county had finalized or scheduled 72 adoptions, up from 70 in 2022, while supporting roughly 700 youth in custodial care annually.
Back in 2017, Montgomery County Children's Services reported a 24% reduction in foster families over the preceding few years, and about 200 county children were waiting to be adopted at that time, per Dayton 24/7 Now's earlier coverage. That shortage has echoes in more recent statewide numbers: Ohio had 4% fewer foster parents in 2025 than in 2019, according to an October presentation to a state House committee cited by the Statehouse News Bureau.
Even so, the overall number of Ohio children in foster care has been trending down. The state hit its lowest level of kids in foster care since 2016 in July 2025, and by December 2025 the Ohio Department of Children and Youth counted 14,223 kids in foster care statewide — a figure 9% below the record high set in May 2020. Costs, however, have moved in the opposite direction, soaring 68% over that same period, the Statehouse News Bureau reported.
For the Kremers, those statewide pressures were set aside Monday as the family's adoption became final. Kremer's message to other families considering the same path was simple: fostering and adopting can be rewarding, even on the hard days, and McDonald's presence at the ceremony underscored a shared hope that more Montgomery County families will consider opening their homes the way the Kremers did.
