To the editor:

The good news is that fewer children are in foster care and more are referred for adoption, according to a report published in the Journal-World on Sunday. The bad news is that the 50 children per month who are referred for adoption will have to wait even longer for a family. This delay is because these children have to start over with a new agency, a new caseworker and new paperwork even though at least 60 percent of these children will be adopted by the very foster parents they live with.

Why is this happening? Because, several years ago the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services decided that separate contracts for foster care and adoption were a good idea.

John Poertner,

Lawrence