December 2011
Wendy’s Wonderful Kids research update
The results of the Wendy’s Wonderful Kids rigorous five-year research study released in October are driving a significant and important conversation with policymakers, practitioners and families impacted by foster care adoption.
The Foundation commissioned the study of Wendy’s Wonderful Kids to evaluate the effectiveness of the program’s child-focused recruitment model.
At the Foster Youth Caucus in Washington, D.C. (L to R): WWK recruiter Chelsea Taylor, caucus speaker and former foster youth Alexis, her sister Hannah, and her mom Camille.
Foundation president and CEO Rita Soronen has been traveling from coast to coast, presenting the research results, including positive findings that children referred to the WWK program are up to three times more likely to be adopted. We are excited to have been invited to many federal and state venues to discuss the groundbreaking research.
In just the last few weeks, the Foundation participated in the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnership’s “Briefing and Conversation on Supporting Adoption;” was the focus of a Senate Caucus on Foster Youth briefing, chaired by Senator Mary Landrieu and Senator Charles Grassley; made presentations at the Voice for Adoption Portrait Project launch on Capitol Hill; and participated in a National Foster Care Coalition members meeting. Before the official research release, Soronen was a speaker at the “Child Welfare Summit for Permanency for African American Children Involved with the Child Welfare System,” chaired by Congressman Danny Davis, Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson and Congresswoman Karen Bass.
The Foundation is working with states to help them understand the research and its potential impact. Soronen was an invited panelist in the Ohio Attorney General’s “Child Safety Summit,” and a keynote presenter at the West Virginia “Timeliness to Permanency” conference, and continues to educate states and policymakers on the WWK research implications.
Full details of the Wendy’s Wonderful Kids research release are available on our website, including reports, media materials, and press coverage.
Your support
We are moving the needle and we couldn’t do what we do without the generous, heartfelt support of our donors. And every gift makes a difference – it brings children in foster care closer to finding forever families.
Thank you to our amazing partners – Wendy’s, individuals, corporate and foundation partners – you helped make this a groundbreaking year for the children we serve.
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Thank you. And from all of us, Happy Holidays!
