Foster Resources
More than 100,000 children in the United States are in foster care waiting for permanent families. If you are interested and so inspired, here are many resources for you to learn from and connect with.
Nationwide:
- AdoptUSKids – Their mission is two-fold: to raise public awareness about the need for foster and adoptive families for children in the public child welfare system; and to assist U.S. States, Territories and Tribes to recruit and retain foster and adoptive families and connect them with children throughout the United States.
- KidsPeace (become a foster parent) - KidsPeace is a private charity dedicated to serving the behavioral and mental health needs of children, families and communities.
- FCAC (Foster Care & Adoptive Community) - Online training courses for working with at risk children.
- Foster Care Counts – Matches volunteers with foster families who need their support, and raises funds to support Los Angeles non-profits doing important work for foster youth and families.
- Los Angeles County Foster Family Agencies - Over 50,000 children await the hope and dream of being adopted or cared for in a safe place and loving arms.
- Children's Bureau of South California - Mission: "To significantly change the lives of at-risk children by providing state-of-the-art child abuse prevention and treatment services"
- Kinship Center - Mission: "Builds adoptive and other families where children can heal from past abuse, neglect or abandonment and grow to healthy adulthood. We help 2,000 children each year, mostly those whom many others consider too difficult: severely traumatized children, older teenagers, children with disabilities, large sibling groups, and drug affected infants."
- Optimist Youth Homes and Family Services - Over 100 years of caring for children
- PennyLane - An Array of Children's Social Services in Southern California
- Together We Rise - Comprised of motivated young adults and former foster youth, works to improve the lives of foster children in America.
- Vista Del Mar - Mission: provide comprehensive, family-centered social, educational and behavioral health services that encourage children, adolescents and their families to lead self reliant, stable and productive lives.
- Westside Children's Center - Mission: supports underserved, vulnerable children and their families in West Los Angeles by providing a full range of crucial, multi-disciplinary services.
Fertility Resources
There is so much information on this topic for women on the web. Here are a handful of links to get you started!
- A Child After 40 - An abundant, positive and thoughtful resource for "women on the journey of later motherhood"
- American Pregnancy Association - A national health organization committed to promoting reproductive and pregnancy wellness through education, support, advocacy, and community awareness
- Doctor Oz - This page on the Dr. Oz website has a ton of related articles (author is Dr. John Jain)
- Dr. Weil - Dr. Andrew Weil's article on infertility
- fertileaction.org - Preserving Fertility for Women recovering from Cancer
- fertilityties.com - Great Resource to find Dr. Near you and information
- resolve.org - The National Fertility Association
- thewalkingegg.com - The Walking Egg Project aims to establish affordable and safe fertility services in developing countries
Adoption Resources
If you are a childless single woman or couple our non-profit "Childless Mothers Adopt" 501-C3 (CMoMA) may be the perfect fit for you. We organize and fund yearly group trips to places on this planet where the children have the least amount of resources. If interested in learning more click on the "Journey" link on the Childless Mothers Adopt website or call 1-855-462-6662 (GoCMomA) to learn more.
National Adoption Agencies
- Adoption.Com - Very comprehensive.
- National Adoption Day - Celebrating a family for every child
- National Adoption Foundation - Because every child deserves a loving family
- North American Council on Adoptable Children - Because every child deserves a permanent, loving and culturally competent family
- Adoption Council of Canada - Primary resource for Canadian residents interested in adopting in Canada.
National Adoption Resources
- Adoption Funding Support - The CMomA Grant Program aims to give up to twenty $5,000 CMomA Grants per year to eligible new parents adopting older children in need (age 3-17), both domestically and internationally.
- Adopting.com - Resources for prospective adoptive parents: How to get started, links to agencies, facilitators and attorneys, letters from birth-parents, support groups and legal information. Also includes a photolisting of waiting children.
- Adopting.org - Contains a wide variety of adoption topics and resources.
- AdoptUSKids – Their mission is two-fold: to raise public awareness about the need for foster and adoptive families for children in the public child welfare system; and to assist U.S. States, Territories and Tribes to recruit and retain foster and adoptive families and connect them with children throughout the United States.
- Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption - Finding forever families for children in foster care
- Gift of Adoption Fund - They give financial grants to parents with a qualified home study, adopting domestically or internationally. Their funding priorities include children aging out of orphanages, and domestic adoptions, particularly in cases where siblings can stay together or to keep a kid from entering the foster care system unnecessarily.
- KidSave - Our mission is to create change - so forgotten orphanage and foster kids grow up in families and connected to caring adults.
- OneMission - One Mission is an awesome, e-commerce based fundraising platform that helps groups and individuals raise the money they need to change the world.
- Photolisting on Adoption.com - Click this link to begin your adoption search within the photo listings of the adoption.com website
International Adoption Agencies and Resources
- Adoption.com - International adoption resources on the adoption.com website
- Children's House International - To provide children worldwide with loving homes and to provide families with the support they need to adopt and parent their children. Our humanitarian efforts also extend to the children who are not adopted; to place them back with their birth families or to provide options for them to remain in a positive and healthy environment in their own countries.
- Gift of Adoption Fund - They give financial grants to parents with a qualified home study, adopting domestically or internationally. Their funding priorities include children aging out of orphanages, and domestic adoptions, particularly in cases where siblings can stay together or to keep a kid from entering the foster care system unnecessarily.
Library Resources
We've Compiled Some Books & Articles On Adoption For You!
Feel Free To Recommend A Book Or Forward A Great Article By Sharing It On Our Member Forum & Blog!
BOOKS
On Being Childless
On Adoption
by Dawn Davenport (Kindle)
By Rosanna Hertz
Choosing Single Motherhood: The Thinking Woman's Guide
By Mikki Morrissette
Parenting
ARTICLES
- www.adoption.com - Advantages of Adopting an Older Child
- The International Adoption Guide - A step-by-step tour through the international adoption process (From Adoption.com)
- skyward journey - Orphan Statistics