Staff & guest blogs
You’re meant to be a parent
We’re right in the middle of National Infertility Awareness Week and the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption has joined the movement with RESOLVE. As a part of this partnership, we are sharing information about building a family through adoption from foster care.
Since 1989, RESOLVE has organized a dedicated week to raise awareness about infertility. And every April, professionals, bloggers, support groups and those living with infertility share their stories and advice. They encourage more people to educate themselves and to consider all the roads to build a family.
Unfortunately, infertility is all too common. One in eight couples of childbearing age is impacted by infertility, according to the Center for Disease Control.
But infertility doesn’t have to be the end of the story. (more…)
Adoption doors sometimes open without even knowing it
The Reiff family.
Today’s guest blog is by Greg Reiff
My wife and I had been trying to get pregnant for almost four years. There were no real reasons for us being unable to get pregnant. We were even trying any means to get pregnant outside of in-vitro fertilization. It just costs so much and only has a 10-20 percent success rate. We were getting very frustrated and spent many days crying over our dilemma.
About Christmastime, 2006, after months of tests and retests at a local hospital for my wife, Krista, and me – and seeing numerous friends and family announce their pregnancies – we became very distraught over the infertility process as a whole.
My wife lovingly shared with me that she was starting to feel like adoption was our only hope for a family, and that she really wanted to be a mom. I still thought that if we just kept trying, we would eventually be able to conceive a child. (more…)
Our favorite Foundation milestones – Part 4
By Denny Lynch
Foundation Board Chairman
This is the final post in our series about our favorite Foundation milestones. Catch up with our others and read part 1, part 2, and part 3.
I had the incredible honor to be at the very beginning of the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption. Together with Dave and many others, we shaped the very first mission, goals and objectives. I know without any doubt that Dave would be incredibly proud of what DTFA stands for, and what it has accomplished over two decades.
My favorite milestone constantly repeats itself … witnessing the power of the human spirit in the lives of the children we serve. (more…)
How infertility blessed a family with twins
The Martinez family
Today’s guest post is by April Martinez
Our story began when my husband and I got married in July of 2005. Two weeks later he left for Iraq and six months later I left for Afghanistan. Almost two years after he left, we were finally together – thanks to a nice four-month extension I received at the last minute. One if the things that got me though all that time apart was the dream of starting a family once I returned home. One would think it would be a very simple process. However, for us, it was not.
While we were able to get pregnant (eight times in all), each time the baby became an angel before we could welcome them into our arms. It all finally became too much for us. We were not sure where to start so we got some adoption books and explored our options. International adoption was not within our means (not enough leave time from the military to fulfill requirements), and we were turned away from domestic adoption agencies for being dual military, so we inquired to our local foster care agency. (more…)
Our favorite Foundation milestones – Part 3
By Robin Campbell
Senior Director of Corporate Relations
Read our other favorite milestones: Part 1, Part 2.
Change a child’s life – in so many ways.
In November 2004, during National Adoption Month, Wendy’s restaurants offered the first system-wide canister program to benefit the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption. That month, every Wendy’s restaurant received two coin canisters to display on their counters for one month.
We were astounded at the fundraising result: $44,041.
And then, feedback from the operators indicated Wendy’s customers would be willing to support the program even longer. (more…)
Our favorite Foundation milestones – Part 2
By Carrie Boerio
Senior Director of Programs
Read part 1 of our favorite milestones.
Not long after I joined the Foundation, I had the privilege of participating in the birth of something wonderful.
The Foundation had done great work over the years, but our leader, Rita Soronen, wanted to implement an aggressive new strategy. She knew the direction she wanted us to go – to provide desperately-needed, dedicated adoption resources at the local level — but we had to define who, what, when, where, how and how much. We already knew why: we needed to be able to point to one child and say “the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption found a loving, permanent family for this child who was waiting in foster care to be adopted.” And we needed to be able to say it for thousands of children in the United States and Canada. As a result, in April of 2004, we launched what has become our largest signature program, Wendy’s Wonderful Kids.
We piloted the program in seven sites, providing local adoption agencies with the funding, the model and the method of accountability to implement child-focused recruitment. With the Foundation’s funding, the local agency hired a Wendy’s Wonderful Kids adoption recruiter to work exclusively on finding a family for each child. The recruiter built a caseload of the longest-waiting children in their area and worked individually with each child, focusing on his or her unique needs.
The Foundation has found families for more than 3,400 children who would otherwise have been likely to leave the foster care system at age 18 … alone. Today, we have 169 Wendy’s Wonderful Kids recruiters spread throughout North America working with urgency, in a way that has been proven to work much better than business as usual. You can be a part of this truly wonderful result. Visit our website to find a recruiter near you, get a free guide to adoption, follow us on social media, or see all of the many ways you can support our work.
With the help of one person at a time, we can find a family for one child at a time, until every child has a family. Won’t that be wonderful?
What parents need to know about the adoption tax credit
Today’s guest post is by Josh Kroll
If you are considering adoption, or in the adoption process, you probably have heard about the Federal Adoption Tax Credit (ATC). Unfortunately, there is a lot of confusing information about the ATC and I would like to clear that up for you. It is understandable that it is confusing because the rules keep changing.
The ATC is available for adoptive parents who have adopted a child who is not their spouse’s child. It is available for foster care adoptions, private domestic adoptions, and international adoptions. The rules for each type of adoption are a little different. (more…)
Project for Awesome seeks to decrease worldsuck
We have the privilege to be a featured video in this year’s Project for Awesome. Video blogger Nathan Talbott created the video about the Foundation because adoption is a very important cause to him. We found out about his project after he shared it through his Twitter account.
Project for Awesome is “an annual event that sprung out of various YouTube communities to support charities and other ways of decreasing the overall worldwide level of suck. Ever year since 2007, thousands of people post videos to YouTube promoting charities on December 17th. We then come together as a community to promote those videos and raise money.”
Watch the video. It’s a great representation of the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption from a man who was adopted as a child. We are honored Nathan chose to use the Foundation as the subject for his Project for Awesome video. You can vote for his video on the Project for Awesome website.
4 families, infinite love
This is just one of the many unforgettable moments captured during our two-day photo shoot.
By Staci Perkins
Senior Director, Marketing & Communications
A couple of weeks ago I tagged along with a film and photography crew who were working on our new public service announcement and poster series.
The new campaign will focus on successful adoptive families, and will work hand-in-hand with our current campaign, I Am. This positive, family-focused messaging is not only a natural progression from the images we currently feature in our products, but it’s something that many of you have been asking for.
Trying to find families to feature in these new materials was no easy task. Not because there is a lack of successful adoptive stories, but because there are so many amazing ones from which to choose. I was so completely humbled to witness these intimate moments – some funny, some heartbreaking – that I was moved to tears many times.
We hope to have new materials available in January, but for now, here’s a sneak peek: (more…)
10 ways prospective parents can get a head start to adoption
When thinking about starting a family, there are many questions prospective parents have. And when a child does arrive, being quick on your feet to address the unexpected is important, along with trusted people you can go to if you need help.
Parents who adopt are no different, except that there is a smaller pool of people available for advice.
On our Facebook page we asked adoptive parents and adoptees to share their experiences so that those looking to grow their families through adoption can gain insight on the process.
We asked, “What have you learned as an adoptive parent that would be helpful for prospective adoptive parents to know?” Here are some of the responses. (more…)