Everyone wants to be loved, but few people know the ache for support as well as these three girls.

Cheryl Adams, 16, Jessica Adams, 14, and Rita Adams, 13, have gone through eight foster homes over the last four years and are now waiting to be adopted.

“I’d like to find a family who will like me for who I am,” Rita said.

Her comment was echoed by her older sister Cheryl.

“I want a family who will accept me for who I am and understand where I’m coming from,” she said. “[I want] a family I can call my own.”

November is Adoption Month in Iowa, and organizations such as Youth & Shelter Services, Inc., 420 Kellogg Ave., are raising awareness of children seeking adoptive homes. YSS held a press conference Thursday to let the media interview the Adams sisters.

Carolyn Smith, coordinator of the KidSake Project in Des Moines, said the Adams’ story is typical of at least 120 children ages 6-18 in Iowa who are waiting to be adopted.

“We really want to find the right families,” she said. “We want to find families that fit with the children.”

While waiting to be adopted, about 75 percent of homeless children live in foster homes.

The remaining 25 percent live in group homes and residential centers, said YSS CEO George Belitsos.

“Some [children in need] come from abusive situations and have experienced years of physical and emotional scarring,” he said.

Smith said it is still important for children to be adopted in their late teen years because even though they will soon be adults, they still need support.

“Without an adoptive family, they have nowhere to go home to during Christmas and Thanksgiving break … and there’s no one to come visit them in the hospital when they have a baby,” she said.

Belitsos said many of the children needing to be adopted have been “cast adrift” at an early age.

“Most of them are not seen by the community at large, but from behind the scenes, we know that the need [for adoptive parents] is great,” Belitsos said.

“Many will never be reunited with their abusive parents and, indeed, never should be,” he said.

Smith emphasized the value of adopted children to the community, citing the cases of Tom Vilsack and Jim Ross Lightfoot, who were both adopted.

“These children have a lot to give to the future,” she said.