THE ADOPTION EXCHANGE

The Adoption Exchange was established on the belief that every child is entitled to a family life filled with safety, stability and love. The Adoption Exchange is a non-profit 501(c)3 child welfare organization founded for the purpose of ensuring that all children have safety and permanence in their own homes. Our mission is to provide the connection between families who adopt and children who wait to be adopted. Recruiting families for children who have survived abuse and neglect, offering training and knowledge to permanency planning professionals, and providing support and information to adoptive families are the three major components of The Adoption Exchange's mission.

The Adoption Exchange has more than a twenty-year history of finding families for more than 4,542 children, who are generally school-aged, survivors of abuse and neglect, members of a sibling group, children of minority heritage or children living with the threat of a parent's imminent death.

The State of Missouri has been a member of The Adoption Exchange for over ten years. In Missouri , The Adoption Exchange's programs have been integrating new and exciting supportive services into the child welfare arena since the fall of 1999.

According to the Missouri Department of Social Services Children's Division Caseload Counter monthly update August 2005 report, there were 11,193 children who had been in the custody of the Missouri Children's Division, primarily due to abuse and neglect by their parent(s). Of these children, 1,988 had a goal of being adopted. They are unable to return to their birth family, due to chronically unsafe or unstable conditions. The average age of these children is 10 years old, with ages ranging from infant to 18 years old.

MISSOURI VISION STATEMENT

The Missouri office of The Adoption Exchange envisions itself as a critical member of the professional social services network that responds to the needs of waiting children, prospective adoptive parents, and adoptive families in Missouri .

MISSOURI VISION

The Adoption Exchange's Missouri office will provide information and referral, recruitment, advocacy, support and training to

•  adults and families who inquire about adoption,

•  organizations who offer recruitment, training and assessment services to prospective adoptive families

•  adoption professionals

•  the Missouri Children's Division and its social service staff

•  families who adopt

•  any other service providers who may work with adoptive families or children who wait

All of our efforts are desined to the benefit of children and youth who wait for safety and stability from adoptive families.

The Missouri office of The Adoption Exchange will offer programming developed in concert with waiting children and their advocates, adoptive families, the Children's Division and other private and public organizations serving the needs of children and families. Programming will respond to gaps in the child welfare and adoption systems in the state of Missouri , with emphasis on unmet needs in the areas of recruitment, retention and post adoption support of adoptive families.

The Missouri office of The Adoption Exchange will collaborate, whenever possible, with Missouri Children's Division offices, adoptive families, pre-adoptive families, and public and private agencies that serve the needs of children and families. Through these collaborative efforts, The Adoption Exchange in Missouri will strive to close existing service gaps and to model and maintain high standards in child welfare practice.

To this end, The Missouri office will promote the work of The Exchange in the state of Missouri , with the assistance of an Advisory Committee consisting of community leaders. We will welcome and make opportunity for involvement and investment by Missouri corporations, foundations, and individuals who wish to make a positive impact on the lives of Missouri 's children and families.

The Missouri office of The Adoption Exchange will maintain its cooperative working relationship with the whole of The Adoption Exchange, in order to develop and support its regional programming as well as further the larger mission of The Exchange.