About Us

Our ten-plus years of working in the field of adoption has included the most heart-warming and frustrating experiences. When waiting children are adopted they often undergo an amazing transformation. Unfortunately many things, including money, impact the chances for children to become part of a permanent family. When a county has custody of a child and does not have the funding to pay an agency that has an interested family, that child continues to wait.

In 1996, the federal government recognized that funding was needed to increase both the number and rate of adoptions for waiting children. Federal and state money was used to create a program called AdoptOHIO. This program paid private non-profit and public agencies to place waiting children into adoptive families. AdoptOHIO was successful at raising adoption rates by 13%.

In 2003, the federal and state money that paid for these adoptions was virtually eliminated. The results have been staggering. Agencies are not moving children out of foster care and into adoptive placements. Families interested in children outside of their county of residence are not being considered for placements. Private non-profit adoption agencies are downsizing and some have even closed their doors.

Finding qualified adoptive families for waiting children is a difficult task. It is expensive for adoption agencies to recruit and train families, conduct homestudies, match families with children, and facilitate the adoption process. This means that agencies must turn to other sources to fund their adoption departments. When sufficient funding is not being generated, adoptions do not take place. Children continue to wait.

The Waiting Child Fund will make a difference. Our goal is to fund the efforts to place children who have been waiting the longest and are most at risk of "aging out" of the system. We will work directly with the private and public agencies, which have the skills and resources to find permanent families for these children in need. The money we raise will be used to build partnerships and enable collaborations between agencies to make successful adoptive placements.

One out of nine people in the United States has been touched by adoption. Many are searching for opportunities to re-connect to the cause of adoption. We are a vehicle for these individuals, corporate donors and community groups who want to donate and influence the adoption of Waiting Children.