2025 Supervisor of the Year: Vance from Ohio
During the 2025 Wendy’s Wonderful Kids® Summit, the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption recognized Vance, a Wendy’s Wonderful Kids supervisor with Franklin County Children Services in Ohio, as a Supervisor of the Year.
Through our Wendy’s Wonderful Kids program, the Foundation supports the hiring of adoption professionals, who are dedicated to finding permanent families for the longest-waiting children in foster care. That includes teenagers, children with special needs and siblings. These professionals use an evidence-based, child-focused recruitment model to find the right family for every child in their care. A rigorous, five-year national evaluation revealed that children referred to Wendy’s Wonderful Kids are up to 3x more likely to be adopted.
“Vance has a heart of gold. He is the definition of servant leadership,” said Cassie, Associate Director of Adoptions/Youth Transition Services. “His strong character and calm demeanor create an environment where all staff, peers and youth feel comfortable talking to him.”
Vance demonstrates that servant leadership by always making time for team building with his department, offering valuable advice and resources for recruiters throughout Ohio. He is also willing to think outside the box to support his team and ultimately the children on their caseloads in their journey to permanency.
“Vance takes this role on not only at a professional level but also personal,” Cassie added. “He’s a foster parent, and he has adopted a little girl. So, every aspect of his life shows his support toward permanency.”
“I believe all of our youth are very special, and they just need the right family for them. Utilizing the child-focused recruitment model really allows our youth to be connected to those people that understand them and can really care for them.” Vance said.
Congratulations, Vance, for this special honor, and thank you for your commitment to finding safe, permanent families for the longest-waiting youth in foster care.