ADOPTION RECRUITMENT SERVICES

Our recruitment strategies combine grassroots and multimedia efforts focused on youth-directed, child-specific recruitment plans tailored for each youth.

As part of the recruitment process, each youth participates in a photography session and studio interview in preparation for developing recruitment materials. Youth help direct the production of their own personal recruitment videos and also design and create their own teen magazines.

Village Adoption Connection
Under One Sky hosts Village Adoption Connection (VAC) recruitment events for the youth in our program who are seeking adoptive families. The public is invited to learn about the youth through their personalized videos and mini-magazines and through strength-based stories from Under One Sky staff, teachers, foster parents, social workers, and others in each youth’s circle of support. Connecting with the youth’s circle is often the first step toward adopting a youth or becoming a mentor.

At Under One Sky, we believe that every youth in foster care needs a circle of supportive and dedicated adults to help find the right adoptive family. We understand that not everyone can adopt and that there are many other ways to support a waiting youth including:

• Providing foster care
  
• Providing respite care
  
• Becoming a mentor
  
• Becoming a tutor
  
• Volunteering time at camp or other events
  
• Donating money and/or supplies
  
• Educating others about youth who need families
  

How We Recruit Adoptive Families
The following methods are used to recruit adoptive families for the youth:

• Making child-specific presentations to prospective adoptive parent training sessions statewide (public and private agencies)
  
• Conducting Village Adoption Connection events each year
  
• Showing child-specific videos on participating television stations
  
• Making child-specific presentations to radio stations using the youth’s audio interview
  
• Providing recruitment opportunities at regional and state events including National Adoption Awareness Month events
  

In addition, Under One Sky evaluates the outcomes of the recruitment plan, tracks the progress of prospective adoptive families, and helps facilitate the adoption process when requested.

More Information
Please download the Passages Program Guide for more information on Adoption Recruitment Services or contact Tina Peterson, Youth Services Director.

   WATCH A SAMPLE
 RECRUITMENT VIDEO

“Under One Sky has changed my life because everybody has similar problems as me and it makes me see that there are a lot of people like me. It makes it a lot easier to go through with adoption.”

Chelsea, age 15, Under One Sky youth

DOWNLOAD A SAMPLE TEEN                    ZINE