Press - RaiseAChild.us

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
CONTACT:
John Ireland, (213) 840-3593
John@RaiseAChild.US

March 27, 2012

RaiseAChild.US Partners with
Human Rights Campaign to Recruit
LGBT Parents to Foster and Adopt

LOS ANGELES, CA– According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, over 107,000 children in the U.S. foster care system are waiting for permanent homes. This week, the non-profit organization RaiseAChild.US announced it is partnering with the Human Rights Campaign Foundation to launch a pilot project to produce recruitment events and media campaigns with outdoor, radio and television advertising in major cities across the U.S.

The campaigns will feature gay and lesbian parents and their children. Their goal is to meet the need for homes for waiting children by recruiting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) parents to build families of their own through fostering and adoption.

"RaiseAChild.US was born out of a desperate and exigent need to connect children waiting in the foster care system with safe and loving homes," said Rich Valenza, the organization's founder and Executive Director. "Across our country, there are just as many LGBT parents and prospective parents able to provide this... the solution is right before our eyes."

The Human Rights Campaign is America's largest civil rights organization working to achieve LGBT equality. Its foundation launched the All Children – All Families initiative in 2007, which promotes policies and practices that welcome LGBT foster and adoptive parents. The program seeks to enhance LGBT cultural competence among child welfare professionals and educate LGBT people about opportunities to become foster or adoptive parents to waiting children. To date, it has over 50 participating agencies across the country, and has awarded 18 seals of recognition.

"The RaiseAChild.US campaign will help motivate many people in our community to take that first step, knowing that we will connect them to an agency that truly welcomes and values them," said Ellen Kahn, HRC Family Project Director and a professional social worker.

According to 2010 U.S. Census data, children are being raised in over one million LGBT-headed households. RaiseAChild.US Media Director John Ireland explained, "Our families blend into every community, leading to the misperception that gay parenting is something new. For this reason, many LGBT people do not realize the fact that multiple private and governmental child welfare agencies are eager to work with us. This campaign helps us to build and strengthen our families."

In November 2011, the organization launched www.RaiseAChild.US and a Southern California media campaign, partnering with the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services and local adoption agencies, recruiting over 200 prospective resource families within one month.

For more information:
John Ireland, john@RaiseAChild.US, (213) 840-3593, www.RaiseAChild.US, www.hrc.org/acaf

Click here to download our Press Release and Photo Page as a PDF.
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POSSIBLE CAPTION: Local families are featured on banners displayed across L.A. in November, celebrating National Adoption Month.

Photos from the RaiseAChild.US Campaign
CAPTION: Many private and governmental child welfare agencies are eager to work LGBT families who wish to foster or adopt.

October 24, 2011

Los Angeles County recruits gay and lesbian
foster and adoptive families through RaiseAChild.us

Los Angeles, Calif. – The Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) is partnering with three non-profit organizations to recruit gay and lesbian families to foster and adopt children during November, National Adoption Month, in an effort entitled RaiseAChild.us

The coalition has placed large banners on light poles along major boulevards across L.A. featuring two gay families who have fostered and adopted children from the County. They have also placed PSAs on local radio stations and created RaiseAChild.us, a resource website.

One of the families profiled in the campaign includes actor /comedian Alec Mapa, known for his work on ABC’s Desperate Housewives and Ugly Betty television series. Alec and his husband fostered and adopted their six-year-old son in 2010.

“Our prospective dads are curious to learn about the benefits of creating their families through fostering and adoption,” says Rich Valenza, Co-President of The Pop Luck Club, a Los Angeles-based non-profit organization founded in 1998 with a mission to support gay fathers, prospective fathers and their children. “We are thrilled to partner with L.A. County and two of the most visible agencies working with LGBT families, Southern California Foster Family and Adoption Agency and Penny Lane Centers.

Sari Grant, DCFS Recruitment Administrator for foster care and adoption, believes the partnership will be beneficial. She says, “We have had great success training people from the LGBT community and providing children with safe, secure and loving homes.” Nationwide, there are nearly 500,000 children in foster care, with approximately 115,000 available for adoption. As the nation’s most populous county, Los Angeles serves a very large percentage of these children. As of July 2011, there were 35,223 children receiving child welfare services, 15,390 of them in “out of home” care.

“Ten years ago there were very few LGBT families that understood that they could foster and adopt through the county,” says Robyn Harrod, Adoption Director at Southern California Foster Family and Adoption Agency. “Now, nearly 50% of the families our agency works with are headed by single or partnered gays and lesbians.”

Laurie Rein, Adoption Program Manager at Penny Lane Centers underscores the importance of a large-scale media campaign. “We want the LGBT community to see these posters, hear the radio PSAs and realize that fostering and adopting is an option for them. We want to establish the fact that gays and lesbians are welcome to foster and adopt. We know this community provides safe and loving homes… and our kids are waiting.”

Photos from the RaiseAChild.US Outdoor Campaign in Los Angeles (November 2011) CAPTION: Local families are featured on banners displayed across L.A. in November 2011, celebrating National Adoption Month.