I believe every child deserves a safe, permanent home.
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A Child is Waiting For a Family. You Can Help.
The Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption is a national, nonprofit public charity dedicated to dramatically increasing the number of adoptions of children waiting in North America’s foster care systems.
Children are placed in foster care after enduring abuse, neglect, parental drug use or other issues, and many have experienced significant trauma, grief and loss in their lives.
The priority of the foster care system is to keep families together. But when a judge has ruled that it is unsafe for a child to return to their family of origin, they need someone to step forward to adopt them.
children are lingering in foster care across the U.S.
of these young people age out of the system without a family every year.
youth will be homeless after age 18 without the support of a permanent family.
At one point, I thought I was going to be out on the streets.
How We Help
At the heart of our work is a commitment to understand the needs and lived experiences of the children and youth we serve, improve access for families who want to adopt from foster care and build an organization that supports the broader child welfare community.
Our strategic priorities and signature programs are grounded in research and created with a racial equity lens.
With help from our caring supporters and partners, we are urgently working to raise public awareness and expand the reach of our life-changing programs, including:
How You Can Help
There are many ways to get involved and make a difference.
“The more you give to others, the more you get in return.”
Resources to Support the Adoption Journey
We offer a variety of resources for parents and professionals.
Foundation reaches major milestone, WCMH, COLUMBUS, Ohio reports
The Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption announced that its Wendy’s Wonderful Kids program has helped find permanent homes for more than 15,000 children and youth in foster care across the United States and Canada since 2004 — including nearly 12,300 children since scaling the project began in 2012.
A central Ohio girl named Samantha finally has a family thanks to the program, which supports the hiring of adoption recruiters like Amy who serve the longest-waiting children in foster care.
From Feeling Lost and Alone to Being Surrounded by Love, Pugs and Mugs:
Lilyauna’s Story
For nine years, Lily waited in foster care, fearful that she wouldn’t have a family and would have to face her future alone. She dreamed of being adopted but was almost too afraid to wish for it. “I don’t really remember a time not in foster care. I mean, I hoped, but I never really expected it to happen,” said Lily.
