#AdoptHope Wrap-Up

Wharton students, left to right: Natalie, Ainsley, Armin, Nilesh, Kashfia 

Our #AdoptHope event held at Shops at Liberty Place last week was a huge success in spreading awareness about the many children in foster care who await the love and support of a forever family. Many passers-by were given the opportunity to ask questions they had about adoption and foster care, pick up pamphlets provided by several different adoption agencies, and gather information on the many children that we work with here at the National Adoption Center.

The goal of this event was to educate others about adoption through the use of informative resource tables and provide interactive activities that reveal surprising myths and facts adoption. NAC staff, our Philly Fellow got to working side-by-side with students from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania to create this event. We are extremely pleased that we had the opportunity to celebrate National Adoption Month with others in the community and continue to push forward with public awareness initiatives.
        

Quote from Brittani, Wharton student and event performer, “I know I personally learned a lot about adoption and so did the rest of the team, which is awesome because now we will be able to educate others”

Myra, Adoptive mother of special needs children, and Beth, NAC's Marketing Director

                                   

We had a scrapbook where people could record their thoughts about adoption and family, here are a few of the messages left:

“Special children need special homes”

“I definitely want to adopt someday”

“It’s a wonderful thing”

What would be your message?

#AdoptHope

from a team of Management 101 students who have been working on a project to assist us & who have worked with our Philly Fellow and our Marketing Manager

Throughout the past two months, our team [from UPenn, Wharton] has thoroughly enjoyed working with the National Adoption Center to organize the #AdoptHope event, a public awareness event that will be held today Monday, November 19 at Liberty Place in Center City Philadelphia.

Adoption has closely touched the lives of many of our team members, so we’re truly excited to have had the opportunity to help NAC celebrate National Adoption Month on their 40th anniversary.

Our event’s goal is to educate people about adoption through the use of informative resource tables and interactive activities that debunk surprising myths and facts about adoption. We will also have live entertainment from students of the University of Pennsylvania and a raffle with a chance to win some great prizes. As guests leave the event, we hope that they will take a minute to share their experiences with adoption or something they have learned by writing in our “Share Your Story” scrapbook or conducting an interview that will feature in a future promotional video.

This experience, from the inception of the initial concept to the creation of the final posters, has helped us to realize the dedication and organization that go into planning an event. The work of the National Adoption Center is truly inspiring, and it was an honor to be part of this exciting time for them. Although we were already passionate about adoption going into this project, we have learned so much by taking on this project and hope that our guests will also be inspired to support the National Adoption Center in their mission to help thousands of youth #AdoptHope.

Day-at-the-Eagles

Here’s one of the families that participated: (left to right) Marianne Cadieux, Jeremy Maclin and Cadieux’s children, Jamie, Mariah and Valawn.

Every time the Philadelphia Eagles play a home game, a lucky family with children it has adopted has a chance to observe the team’s warm-up, cheer at the game and meet afterward with Jeremy Maclin, the Eagles wide receiver. Maclin, who was raised by parents who were not his birth family, understands the feelings of other children with similar experiences. Therefore, he has become a supporter of the National Adoption Center and has initiated the Day-at-the-Eagles experience for the families.

Behind the Scenes with Amanda

Greetings! My name is Amanda and I am a Program Intern here at the National Adoption Center. This internship fulfills the last requirement needed to obtain my degree in Human Development and Family Studies from Penn State University, but more importantly allows me to gain “real world” experience outside of the classroom. In the short six weeks that I have been with NAC I have learned so much about the field of adoption and what goes in to finding the perfect family for a child in foster care.

One family recruitment tool that is coordinated by NAC is “Wednesday’s Child.” I had the exciting opportunity to attend a Wednesday’s Child taping and meet Jose, the featured Wednesday’s Child for that week. I’m not sure why but I had expected something to set Jose apart from a typical teenager growing up in their birth family. I thought maybe he would look different or act different, or do something that would make it obvious that he lives in a foster home. Looking back, I feel embarrassed that I thought any of that. Jose was your average teenager; nose buried in his cell phone, listening to music on his head phones, and updating his Facebook status to let his friends know that he was at lunch with the Vai Sikahema. He was polite and very well-mannered. Nothing about Jose’s appearance or behavior indicated that he was going through one of the toughest things a child could face.

Unfortunately, I’m sure that many people have some of the same thoughts that I originally had about children in foster care. It just seems to make sense that a child who has been through such heartbreak and uncertainty in their short life might act bitter and mean. Lucky for me, I had the chance to be proved wrong by a sweet young man in foster care, and I am so thankful that I was blessed with that opportunity. Now I will make it my mission to let the rest of the world know just how amazing these children are.

Our Extraordinary Partner: Wendy's!

L to R: Sam Scott, Regional Director for Briad Group, Roberta Drakes, General Manager for Wendy's, Mushtaq Abdullahi, District Manager for Wendy's and Ken Mullner, Executive Director for NAC.

In addition to being Lead Sponsor for our 40th Anniversary Gala and Golf Tournament, Wendy's also designated us as beneficiary of the proceeds from its Frosty Key Tag Campaign. Wendy's restaurants in the tri-state area sold key tags for one dollar during January and February, allowing buyers to get a free Frosty each time they made a purchase throughout the year. Wendy's important partnership supports the work we do expanding adoption opportunities for children living in foster care.

Notes from NAC’s Development Department:

For the purposes of this blog post I thought I would give you all a glimpse into the world of nonprofit fundraising...

Nonprofit organizations depend largely on public funds – government contracts, grants from foundations, corporate gifts and individual donors. The more diverse an organization’s funding base the better, because it can be dangerous to rely too heavily on one source of income. Many nonprofits experienced this firsthand during the recent recession because government funding, foundation giving and corporate support took major hits.

Contrary to what you may think, individual donors are the largest source of funding for nonprofits, comprising about 70% of the sector’s nearly $300 billion worth of contributions! Individual donors also prove to be the most loyal, since they continue to give even during tough economic times. That shows how important it is for nonprofits to connect with individuals like you!

So, while I still spend much of my time writing grants to local foundations and while we still hold our government contracts in high regard, it’s also important to share our story with individual donors in a powerful way.

I encourage you to learn more about the National Adoption Center’s story by perusing our website; get to know the children we serve, the families we have created and the work that has yet to be done for the nearly 110,000 youth across the U.S. who are waiting for the love and stability of a family.

P.S. – you can become part of our story by making a gift today!

Match Parties Return to the UK

The National Adoption Center’s influence is not just national but international. Over three years ago, adoption staff from the British Association for Adoption and Fostering (BAAF) contacted us inquiring about our match parties. Our staff shared their expertise and best practice materials on how to design and execute a match party.

Fast forward a few years and in early 2011, the UK held their first “activity day,” better known as an adoption or match party here in the states. While these events have had extremely successful outcomes, creating “matches” for 23 out of the 120 children who have been to the three events held so far, these activity days remain extremely controversial as the UK tries to spread awareness.

The UK’s first match party took place in the mid-1970s and quickly went out of favor in the 1980s with critics describing them as “adoption speed dating” which forced agencies to find new family-finding methods. As time has progressed and figures have shown a drop in placements, the UK has decided to reconsider hosting adoption parties, a method which has taken place for over 30 years in the US and have proven to be twice as effective compared to any other method of family finding for children.

“Activity days” have now returned to the UK as a pilot project involving nine local authorities, several adoption agencies, and made possible by the external funding and management of BAAF. BAAF’s adoptions staff has remained in contact with the National Adoption Center throughout their re-launch and our organization has been thrilled to help share materials and lend a hand in the creation of a successful match party.

As an organization that has been successfully hosting match parties for over 25 years, our program which has blossomed into a model for the country, is proud to have branched overseas and support BAAF’s efforts in bringing children in need one step closer to a loving, caring, permanent home.

To read more about BAAF’s “activity days” click here.