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Each year the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services awards several adoption excellence awards. There are several different categories and nominations are taken through August of the award year.
All of these agencies and individuals have proven their commitment to foster care and adoption, or they wouldn’t have received these awards.
Here are the agencies and individuals who received awards this year, along with their respective category.
Category: Decrease in the Length of Time That Children in Foster Care Wait For Adoption
Jane Robertson
Lorain County Children Services
226 Middle Avenue
Elyria, Ohio 44035
Category: Increased Adoptions of Older Children
Cuyahoga County Department of Child and Family Services
3955 Euclid Avenue
Cleveland, Ohio 44115
Aren’t these two categories what we are really shooting for? I wish there were more agencies that qualified for these awards. Interestingly, an Ohio agency won the 2006 award for reducing the length of time kids wait in foster care. So what does Ohio know that other states and counties don’t.
Category: Faith-based Initiatives
Jewish Family & Community Services, Inc.
6261 Dupont Station Court, E.
Jacksonville, Florida 32217
Category: Support for Adoptive Families
Lakeview Center, Inc., Families First Network Special Needs Adoption Program
5401 West Fairfield Drive
Pensacola, Florida 32506
Pennsylvania State Foster Parent Association
P.O. Box 60216
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 17106-0216
Children’s Aid and Family Services, Inc.
240 Frisch Court
1st Floor
Paramus, New Jersey 07652
The Pennsylvania State Foster Parent Association has won this award a few times. Maybe more state agencies should visit Pennsylvania and find out what they’re doing right.
Category: Individual and/or Family Contributions
Gayle Hahn
Tuscarawas County Job & Family Services
389 16th Street, SW
New Philadelphia, Ohio 44663
Madelyn Freundlich
Excal Consulting Partners, LLC
800 3rd Avenue, 23rd Floor
New York, New York 10022
Lakawanna Sawyers
West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources
203 East 3rd Avenue
Williamson, West Virginia 25661
Scott D. Ryan, Ph.D.
College of Social Work
Florida State University, UCC2313
Tallahassee, Florida 32306-2570
Clem & Bettie BellStewart
115 Pear Avenue
Newport News, Virginia 23607
I’m familiar with Madelyn’s work and she is a very strong advocate for kids. We could use a lot more Madelyn’s in the world.
Category: Philanthropy/Business Contributions
Dave Thomas Foundation For Adoption
4150 Tuller Road, Suite 204
Dublin, Ohio 43017
Category: Judicial or Child Welfare System Improvement
Hawaii Department of Human Services
1390 Miller Street, Room 209
Honolulu, Hawaii 96813-2936
Bexar County Child Welfare Board
115 East Travis
San Antonio, Texas 78206
The Bexar County Board is pretty amazing. They have made it their “goal” to make adoptions happen more quickly rather than having files sit on desks and wait. In 2006 they completed 634 adoption which is double the amount that were completed in 2000. Do you think we could get all counties to double the amount of the adoptions completed?
Category: Media/Public Awareness of Adoption from Foster Care
You Gotta Believe! The Older Child Adoption and Permanency Movement, Inc.
1728 Mermaid Avenue
Brooklyn, New York 11224
This is an area we certainly need to improve on. Adopt US Kids has done a good job of increasing public awareness of foster care adoption, but they can only do so much as one agency. The more awareness and education is provided to the public, the better off the kids will be.
There were two categories for which no awards were given:
Adoption of Minority Children from Foster Care
Interjurisdictional Adoptions
To read more about the individuals or agencies who were honored, you can read a brief synopsis on the U.S Department of Health and Family Services website.
If you want to nominate an individual or an agency, you can find information on the nomination page as well as view all past recipients. Anyone from the public or an agency can make a nomination, and you can even nominate yourself.
Give some recognition to people who are doing good things in foster care and adoption.
Last Friday I helped my friend Deeanna with her son while she went down to the Capital to take part in this awards ceremony. She is the head of what is probably now the premier faith-based agency for adoption from foster care in Hawaii, Hope INC (In the Name of Christ). Deeanna and others helped put together our state’s first National Adoption Day last month, which we trust will be an annual event.
True “system improvement” is not easily accomplished or maintained. I’m so proud of my friend and her hard work, vision and perseverance, but she will tell you that change is just beginning. Deeanna and her family have been in Hawaii for over 10 years (previously they worked for a Christian international adoption agency, through whom we adopted our daughter) and have profoundly impacted our entire system. She runs Hope INC out of her home, working around her current 5 children and their homeschooling. And she will tell you it’s the Lord and His heart for the widows and the fatherless that has carried her and the agency thus far.
Another friend, Grace, is the foster mom for 2 siblings placed last year through Hope INC. The kids are thriving, and the foster parents are pursuing adoption in 2008. I help provide afterschool care and tutoring 2x week for these kids, which I enjoy.
Each of the names and agencies on this list represent so much behind the scenes effort, prayer and perseverance in the face of discouragement and at times outright opposition. Thanks for highlighting the Adoption Excellence Awards !! — Rachel
Thanks for sharing that. You’re right, these are fantastic people who have put in a lot of hard work. They deserve the recognition.