We Have One Mission
Dramatically increase the number of adoptions of
children waiting in North America’s foster care systems.
Learn more about why the Foundation believes that Unadoptable is Unacceptable.
Play VideoAbout Foster Care Adoption
Children enter foster care through no fault of their own, because they have been abused, neglected or abandoned. These children are victims and, those who become available for adoption deserve our best efforts to find them a safe, loving and permanent family. As our founder, Dave Thomas, always said, “These children are not someone else’s responsibility. They are our responsibility.”
More than 30,000 children need our help so that they can grow up in a loving and supportive family. We won’t stop until every waiting child has a loving family.
Once a child and family are matched, there are many steps that must take place before the adoption is finalized, but once the adoptionis approved by the court, the child is permanently a part of their new family. This means that adoptive parents have the same rights and responsibilities as parents whose children are born biologically. It also means children who are adopted have all the same emotional, social, legal and familial benefits of biological children.
To learn more, download a copy of Finding Forever Families: A Step-by-Step Guide to Adoption.
Our Signature Programs
Wendy’s Wonderful Kids®
The Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption-Canada has a signature program called Wendy’s Wonderful Kids. Through this program, the Foundation supports private and public adoption agencies in Canada. The Foundation’s support allows agencies to hire adoption recruiters who are trained by the Foundation. These adoption recruiters use the Foundation’s evidence-based Child-Focused Recruitment Model to find permanent, loving families for the children they serve. The Wendy’s Wonderful Kids program focuses its efforts on older children, sibling groups and children with special needs because these are the children most at risk of aging out of foster care without being adopted.
Awareness
The Foundation drives awareness using a multi-platform strategy that includes free resources, social media, public service announcements and sponsorships. Together these outlets reach millions of stakeholders. Our resources educate families on the process and expectations of foster care adoption. Finding Forever Families: A Step-By-Step Guide to Adoption is one of our most requested resources and a new series of public service announcements is airing. Visit our library to order or download our free resources.