Wonderful program helps kids find homes

“They want me to be part of their family. They mean it when they say they care and they show it,” explains a 12-year-old boy to Catholic Social Services’ Wendy’s Wonderful Kids adoption recruiter Erica at his adoption hearing. After having lived in 11 foster homes in the past three years, with Erica’s help, this child has finally found a loving family.

November is National Adoption Month and I am delighted to tell you about an innovative approach to special needs adoptions (children in the foster care system eligible for adoption). The Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption funded a part-time adoption recruiter position for CSS through its Wendy’s Wonderful Kids program. WWK has a five-year track record across the United States of finding forever homes for children and youth who linger in the foster care system.

How? Through diligent inquiry and a small caseload, adoption recruiters connect youth in foster care with relationships they may have lost in the past, starting with the familiar circles of the youth’s family and friends. We are currently working with youth in Anchorage and the Mat-Su Valley.

The adoption recruiter meets with youth at least monthly, developing a close relationship to best help assess their needs and desires. Our adoption recruiter develops a plan for recruiting a forever home that is specific to each youth’s unique needs and history. When necessary, our recruiter identifies a permanent adoptive home outside a youth’s network. We work aggressively to find homes for our youth.

After a proposed match is accepted, we work closely with the adoptive family to assure it is prepared to provide a loving, stable and permanent home. As needed, the adoption recruiter acts as a change agent, identifying and addressing systemic barriers in the foster care system and advocating on behalf of the youth and families they serve.

Wendy’s Wonderful Kids has 122 recruiters nationwide and four in Canadian provinces. The program has helped more than 2,500 children find their forever homes. The effectiveness of the WWK model was put to the test with an unprecedented, rigorous five-year study. Its findings are significant and substantial, and truly benefit those waiting to be adopted. Not only are children who are served by WWK adoption recruiters 1.7 times more likely to be adopted than those not served by the program, children referred at age 15 or older and children with mental health disorders are three times more likely to be adopted.

“I have worked to support kids and families in our Alaskan communities since 1993, and I can tell you, this approach is so much better for the kids,” said our CSS recruiter, Erica Johnson. “I really get to hear these youths’ stories and they are as diverse as our great state! These children are just like your kids and mine — they are in gifted programs, participate in sports and enjoy playing in the snow. Most lose their ‘labels’ once they settle into their forever homes.”

A career social worker, Erica delighted in sharing with me the countless stories that reflect the uniqueness and resilience of each youth she serves. For example, she recently found out a 12-year-old boy she is working with taught himself to play bass guitar. When she asked him how he did that he said, “I can do stuff like that, … people just don’t realize it.”

Last year, about 1,800 Alaskan children were in foster care. Sadly, many moved to adulthood without a forever family. On any given day, about 50 youth in the Anchorage/Mat-Su area are in need of permanent families.

In addition to WWK, Catholic Social Services partners with the state Office of Children’s Services to facilitate the home study process for special needs adoptions in Southcentral Alaska. Last year, 204 families received CSS home studies for 354 children in foster care in need of safe, permanent and loving homes.

Catholic Social Services believes in the dignity and human potential in every person and, especially in our families and communities, the family is the basic unit of society. By lifting up our children, especially through our foster care and adoption systems, we lift up our community.

Susan Bomalaski is executive director of Catholic Social Services.