Stories

The Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption welcomed Sean Niklas as a member of its board of trustees, serving a three-year term. Niklas is President & CEO of Saren Restaurants, Inc., a Wendy’s® franchise organization in Chicago, Illinois. Adopted as a newborn, Niklas has committed his life to giving back through his restaurants and as a longtime supporter of the Foundation. “This cause is truly personal to me,” he said. Read More

Chris and Joanna McIntyre have adopted six children from foster care, including their daughter Ariana through the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption's Wendy's Wonderful Kids program. The family shared their story with Denver 9News. Read More

The Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption welcomed Julie Bieszczat as a member of its board of trustees, serving a three-year term. Bieszczat is President of Barney Enterprises Management Services, which operates 11 Wendy’s restaurants across Indiana. "The Foundation is on the front lines in fighting to find loving, adoptive homes for children in foster care who are often overlooked,” said Bieszczat Read More

More than 437,000 children are in foster care in the United States, 125,000 of whom have been permanently separated from their family of origin and are waiting for someone to step forward to adopt them — a 23 percent increase since 2012. Unfortunately, the myths, misperceptions and realities surrounding foster care and foster care adoption can give many prospective parents pause. Read More

The Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption welcomed Jhonny Mercado as a member of its board of trustees, serving a three-year term. Mercado is co-chairman of JAE Restaurant Group, which owns and operates 210 Wendy’s restaurants across the United States. “It is an honor to be chosen to serve on the Foundation’s board and to help advance such a life-changing mission on behalf of the tens of thousands of children in foster care waiting for a loving, permanent home.” Read More

Rita Soronen, President & CEO of the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, joined host Denver Frederick on The Business of Giving podcast to discuss how the Foundation is working to find permanent, loving homes for the growing number of children waiting to be adopted from foster care in North America. Listen and read the transcript. Read More

The Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption recently welcomed Scott L. Moeschberger, Ph.D., as a member of its board of trustees. Scott is a professor of psychology at Taylor University and director of the school’s Initiatives for Vulnerable and Orphaned Children, a pioneering program designed to equip students with best practices and real-world exposure to issues affecting vulnerable children across the world. He will serve a three-year term. "The Foundation is doing absolutely critical work in finding safe, loving, adoptive homes for North America’s most vulnerable children,” he said. Read More

More than 437,000 children are in foster care in the United States, 125,000 of whom have been permanently separated from their family of origin and are waiting for someone to step forward to adopt them — a 23 percent increase since 2012. In this letter to the Washington Post, the Foundation's President & CEO, Rita Soronen, discusses the far-reaching impact of this problem and how we must work together to ensure more children in foster care have a safe, loving home. Read More

For more than five years, Ariana bounced between foster homes, longing for a permanent home. “I thought, ‘Where am I going to live? Who is going to take care of me? How am I going to make friends?’” she said. That dream came true in 2014 when she was adopted by Chris and Joanna McIntyre with support from the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption and her Wendy’s Wonderful Kids recruiter, Chelsea. Read More

National Adoption Month, held every November, is a special time each year to celebrate families that have grown through adoption and raise awareness of the more than 125,000 children still waiting to be adopted from foster care in the United States. "The importance of ensuring that every child has a permanent home and a loving family can’t be ignored," writes Rita Soronen, President & CEO of the Foundation, in this op-ed for The Chronicle of Social Change. Read More