The little boy with the dark, almost black, eyes loves construction equipment.

Diggers, backhoes, dump trucks, cranes and cement mixers.

Quintin likes them all.

"They build houses and things," the 3-year-old says.

And he would like to drive them, the bigger the better.

Quintin also likes to wrestle with his forever big brother Devan, who is 11 and in sixth grade at Schoo Middle School.

And he has to be the first to hug his forever big sister Bri, when she comes home from college.

Years ago, Wendy and David Steiner talked about having two kids and then adopting if they wanted a bigger family.

It was a kind of young couple's fantasy.

But that's what they have done.

Quintin, almost 4 months old when he came to live with the Steiners, is the first of their six foster children to be adopted since they began as foster parents in 2005.

He is also among the 570 state wards adopted in 2008.

The state Department of Health and Human Services received a federal adoption bonus of nearly $570,000 because of this success in giving children permanent homes.

Finalized adoptions in Nebraska increased by 92.6 percent between 2003 and 2008, as the state focused on making decisions about children more quickly, and getting more children who could be adopted through the court system faster.

For five years, Nebraska has received an adoption bonus, which is based on the number of children placed and the number of hard-to-place kids who were adopted.

And 2008 was a record year for adoptions and the federal bonus.

The push to make faster decisions about permanency is part of a group effort involving county attorneys, attorneys for the children, the Foster Care Review Board and judges, says Todd Reckling, director of the Division of Children and Family Services.

In fact, the Supreme Court has a special project to improve the outcome for children in the state system, including shortening the time between hearings, he said.

HHS has also been more successful in finding permanent homes for harder-to-place children -- older children, sibling groups, said Margaret Bitz, foster care and adoption administrator.

Today, more children are leaving the foster care system than are entering it, Reckling said.

HHS has been successful because everyone is working together, Reckling said. "We couldn't have done it by ourselves."

As part of the process, caseworkers are asked to look at reunification with birth parents, but have an adoption or permanent home plan in mind at the same time.

"We hope for the best and plan for the worst, said Ed Matney, an HHS administrator.

So foster parents like the Steiners begin to consider adoption, even as the reunification efforts with birth parents proceed.

That requires emotional maturity, to love but be ready to let go.

"I fall in love with every one," Wendy says.

Four have returned to their birth parents, who improved their parenting skills and showed caseworkers and judges they could be trusted to keep their kids safe.

Even though their hearts ache when a little one leaves their house, they have to trust it is for the best.

The kids love their parents, even when the parents can't get it together enough to provide a safe home, David says.

The Steiners know they also serve as role models for parents while the children are in their care.

"We make what kind of difference we can for however long we can," David said.

They talked about their foster parenting experiences in what used to be the dining room of their north Lincoln home. Now it is a medical nursery for a baby who needs 24-hour attention.

The beeper beeps -- the baby's oxygen content is too low. Wendy answers another question, while David fiddles with the hose and coos at the smiling, arm-waving baby.

This baby, born premature with serious health problems, may someday become their son by adoption also.

And Quintin's forever little brother.

Reach Nancy Hicks at 473-7250 or nhicks@journalstar.com.