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| The Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption has achieved its goal of expanding Wendy's Wonderful Kids into all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Canada; and children in Massachusetts will see a direct benefit. As an adopted child and an American success story, Wendy's founder, Dave Thomas, believed it was unacceptable for any child not to have a safe, loving and permanent home. That is why he created the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption - to focus on the thousands of waiting children in foster care who deserve to be adopted. Wendy's Wonderful Kids is the signature, direct-service program of the Foundation that dedicates funds raised by Wendy's restaurants directly to finding adoptive homes for children in foster care. Today, 3,000 children are languishing in the Commonwealth's foster care system, waiting to be adopted. "Wendy's Wonderful Kids gives hope to Massachusetts children in foster care, who are just waiting for the right family to find them" said Lisa Funaro, executive director of the Massachusetts Adoption Resource Exchange (MARE). "We are thrilled that the Foundation is helping children in Massachusetts and nationwide." In only two years, Wendy's Wonderful Kids recruiters have helped more than 1,000 children in foster care be matched with or adopted by their permanent families. The Wendy's Wonderful Kids model is simple and effective: Massachusetts Wendy's restaurants and their customers raise funds for the Foundation, which used those funds to issue a grant to MARE. MARE hired a Wendy's Wonderful Kids recruiter, who focuses 100 percent of the time on finding permanent, loving families for Massachusetts children in foster care. The program's unique blend of in-store fundraising, a well-managed grants system, and the hiring of talented, experienced adoption recruiters has proved successful in increasing the number of children adopted out of foster care. In 2004, 812 children were adopted from foster care in Massachusetts, but 3,000 were available for adoption. Many children in foster care can wait five or more years before they are adopted, and thousands turn 18 and "age out" of the system each year without ever finding a family. Now that Wendy's Wonderful Kids is in all 50 states, the program's goal to match 8,000-10,000 children with adoptive families by 2010 is within reach. "Children deserve loving, permanent families, and we need people working diligently to find those families for them," said Rita Soronen, executive director of the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption. "Wendy's Wonderful Kids is a deliberate, aggressive, accountable program, and it is working." According to the U. S. Dept. of Health & Human Services, more than half a million children are in the U.S. foster care system, and 114,000 of them are just waiting to be adopted. They need someone who can devote the time and rigorous child-focused strategies to finding them permanent, loving adoptive families. The job of Wendy's Wonderful Kids recruiters is to spend that time and apply their expertise on behalf of each child on their caseload. For more information about the Wendy's Wonderful Kids program, contact our recruiter, Carolyn LaCaresse, at 452-3365 or e-mail clacaresse@mareinc.org. |