Governor Jim Justice announced the partnership during his briefing today as part of National Adoption Month and proclaimed November as Adoption Awareness Month in West Virginia.
This collaboration will support the hiring of adoption professionals, known as Wendy’s Wonderful Kids recruiters, who focus on finding legal permanency for the children who have been in foster care the longest. This includes teenagers, children with special needs, and sibling groups. The program has been proven to significantly improve adoption outcomes for children who are often overlooked.
“We are thrilled to expand the Wendy’s Wonderful Kids program in West Virginia. Every child deserves a safe, loving, and permanent home, and this partnership is a testament to our commitment to finding families for children who need them the most,” said Cynthia Persily, Ph.D., Secretary of the West Virginia Department of Human Services. “Through this partnership, we are giving hope to the youth in our care who have waited far too long for the stability and support they deserve.”
Currently, Wendy’s Wonderful Kids recruiters are working across the state, with additional recruiters to be hired by Mission West Virginia, a partner in the State’s foster care adoption efforts. Both DoHS and the Foundation will monitor the program’s progress and assess the need for more recruiters within the next year.
“We are thrilled to be expanding our Wendy’s Wonderful Kids program in West Virginia, where we have implemented the child-focused recruitment model for over 18 years. The expansion of our partnerships with the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption and the West Virginia Department of Human Services will allow us to ensure that many of the longest-waiting West Virginia youth will find their permanent families,” said Rachel Kinder, FrameWorks Director of Mission West Virginia.
A comprehensive, five-year national evaluation found that a child referred to the Wendy’s Wonderful Kids program is up to three times more likely to be adopted than children in traditional foster care. Following the success of a pilot program in Ohio, the state became the first to implement the program statewide in 2012. Since then, the Foundation has been working to scale the initiative across all 50 states and Washington, D.C., with West Virginia now joining other states, including Alabama, Colorado, Delaware, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Nevada, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Utah, Vermont, and Washington, in this effort.
“Innovative partnerships like this are critical to ensure there are enough recruiters in all 50 states and Washington, D.C. to serve the number of young people who need a family now,” said Rita Soronen, President and CEO of the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption. “We simply cannot stop this work until every child has a safe, loving, and permanent home that is their birthright.”
To date, the Foundation and its partners have found permanent homes for more than 14,700 children across the United States, including 98 youth in West Virginia.
