DCF Looks To Twitter To Boost Adoptions
WEST PALM BEACH (CBS4) – Florida's Department of Children and Families is turning to a popular social networking site it hopes can help the state's 850 foster children find adoptive families. DCF is now using Twitter to find adoptive parents.
The Twitter feed for the state's adoption program is www.twitter.com/exploreadoption . Three state employees have been tweeting since mid-April about training sessions and support tools for potential adoptive parents.
Cyndee Odom of the Governor's Office of Adoption and Child Protection says social media helps educate the public about adoption and spread the word about teenagers, groups of siblings, children with medical disabilities and others who have found it difficult to find adoptive families.
Odom says officials chose Twitter instead of Facebook because it's easier to control inappropriate comments through the micro-blogging website that only allows posts of 140 characters or less.
DCF says a 30-day email campaign in November led to 12 children finding permanent homes.
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