National Grants is sponsored by Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption. The Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption awards strategic national grants to projects that advance its mission, supporting specialized foster care and adoption communities, researching best practices, addressing child welfare policy, and raising awareness.

National Grant Program | Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption Supporting Projects that Advance Our Mission The Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption awards strategic national grants to projects that help to advance our mission and nurture viable practices that: Support specialized foster care and adoption communities Research and identify emerging best practices to facilitate more effective, streamlined or supportive adoptions, including enhanced post-permanency support Address critical child welfare policy enhancements Urgently raise child welfare awareness View the projects we support by clicking each down arrow.

Support specialized foster care and adoption communities First Star Kent State Academy To provide resources, programming and coaching to strengthen the relationships of college-bound youth and caregivers impacted by the child welfare system to promote legal permanency To identify strategies and inform stakeholders on best practices to engage and support kinship families post-finalization National Adoption Association To build and strengthen child welfare systems and leaders to adopt, embed and sustain change projects that result in increased Black family and cultural connections, and increased perceptions of Black families who are at the highest risk of family separation National Center for Youth with Diverse Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity & Expression (The National SOGIE Center) To provide tailored technical assistance from field experts to help child welfare and adoption professionals adopt best practices, navigate challenges and ensure culturally competent services for LGBTQ+ youth and families impacted by the child welfare system To work with existing communities, such as synagogues, to support foster and adoptive families through engagement and resources Identify best practices, including enhanced post-permanency support Adoptee Mentoring Society To support a research-informed, adoptee-led mentoring program for adoptees Alliance for Children’s Rights To increase the number of legal finalizations of older youth and non-minor dependents (ages 15–21) in Los Angeles County and to provide legal training on permanency for older youth Center for Adoption Support and Education To increase adoption-competent mental health providers nationwide through the Training for Adoption Competency (TAC) Curriculum To support the Adoption Subsidy Resource Center to advocate for adoption subsidies and tax credits at the policy level and on behalf of individual families To provide intergenerational housing to children and youth who have been impacted by the child welfare system, their low-income caregivers and low-income older adults State-Specific Post-Permanency Grantees To identify emerging best practices to facilitate more effective, streamlined or supportive post-permanency resources for families created through the Foundation’s Wendy’s Wonderful Kids program.

See all state-specific grantees Adopt America Network (Ohio) Adoption and Foster Family Coalition of New York Aid to Adoption of Special Kids (Arizona) Bethany Christian Services (Georgia) Children’s Network of Southwest Florida Lund Family Services (Vermont) Lutheran Family Services (Nebraska) Raise the Future (Colorado, Nevada and Utah) Stanford Sierra Youth and Family Services (California) Address critical child welfare policy enhancements ABA Center on Children and the Law To distribute a national toolkit highlighting the legal community’s role in supporting kin to help achieve permanency for youth in foster care To develop a fellowship program to retain and develop bipartisan federal child welfare policy leaders to inform future child welfare policy and generate better outcomes for children and families Center for Rights of Abused Children To expand the National Attorney Referral Network to connect children in foster care with trained, supported attorneys who can help children navigate their foster care legal proceedings Child Welfare League of America To develop the first and only volume of Permanency Standards to inform best practices, promote equity and community engagement and prevent youth from lingering in the foster care system Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute To provide funding for the Foster Youth Intern program, placing young people with lived foster care experience with members of Congress to advocate for federal child welfare policy reform Fostering Change for Children To increase retention rates of frontline child welfare workers by providing dedicated recruitment, training and support National Council For Adoption To create resources, provide trainings and conduct research to advocate for better policies and support for adopted individuals and families To host meetings of the State Advisory Council to support the development of bipartisan, consensus-based child-welfare policy recommendations and communicate these recommendations to federal policymakers Urgently raise child welfare awareness Family to Family Support Network To address systemic barriers to better support child and family outcomes and reduce child welfare involvement Fostering Media Connections To elevate literature and news coverage around child welfare and adoption issues to better educate policy makers and the general public Grant applications are requested by invitation.

The Foundation does not review unsolicited proposals. Supporting Child Welfare Professionals Wendy’s Wonderful Kids recruiters work with a diverse village of child welfare professionals to achieve permanency for the young people they serve. The Foundation is committed to supporting all professionals in this life-changing work.

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