The Adoption Program is funded through a grant from the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption. The Children's Home is part of Wendy's Wonderful Kids, a nationwide program with the goal of placing foster care children in permanent adoptive homes.

The grant supports an adoption recruiter whose work is to use aggressive child-focused recruitment strategies targeted exclusively on placing foster care children with loving, adoptive families. Our adoption recruiter employs a very specific child-focused recruitment strategy for each of the children on the caseload and conducts a diligent search of potential adoptive families.

Child-Focused Recruitment is a process that focuses exhaustively on each child's individual history, experiences, and needs in order to find the appropriate adoptive family. The recruiter works closely with each child and their caseworker to develop trust and first-hand knowledge so that a customized recruitment plan can be developed and carried out for each child.

Any child in the foster care system who is free for adoption is eligible for our adoption services. The caseload is 20 to 25 cases with 12 to 15 children in an intensive recruitment phase at any one time.

Children are referred by their Department of Social Services caseworkers for our adoption services. Children can be in placement in a foster home, group home, or residential treatment facility.

For further information, contact Linda Pipkin at 607-772-6904 x181, or e-mail Linda at lpipkin@chowc.org