NCFA Outreach: News Archive

Rodney Atkins Addressed Adoptive and Foster Parent Recruitment Leaders at the Families for All National Parent Recruitment Summit

The National Council For Adoption (NCFA) hosted its Families for All National Parent Recruitment Summit on Wednesday, October 3, 2007, in Washington, D.C. with support from The Pew Charitable Trusts, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, and Freddie Mac.  Leaders and practitioners in the field of adoptive and foster parent recruitment and training convened to deliver the message to Congress, states, and the administration that the foster care financing system is broken, must be reformed now, and must provide for the crucial, neglected strategy of adoptive and foster parent recruitment, training, and support. 

The summit assembled a diverse and distinguished group of forty parent recruitment professionals and advocates from such organizations as One Church One Child, National Foster Parent Association, North American Council on Adoptable Children, Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, Christian Alliance for Orphans, FosterClub, Center for Family Finding and Youth Connectedness, Antioch Adoptions, Homes for Black Children, the Kids Are Waiting Campaign, and theNational Council For Adoption.  Participants approved a statement highlighting the low amount of funding allocated toward adoptive and foster parent recruitment and training, the record number of youths aging out of foster care, and the need to reform federal foster care financing to ensure the provision of a full array of services for children and resource families.  Click here to read the full statement, which was published in the November 1 issue of Roll Call, and view the list of individuals and organizations who have signed on in support of the message. 

NCFA also released a new publication entitled “Parent Recruitment and Training: A Crucial, Neglected Child Welfare Strategy,” which reported the new finding that 22 percent of children in foster care are waiting to be adopted, yet states spend only 1.3 percent of available federal funds on adoptive and foster parent recruitment and training.  To learn more about these findings, click here to read the publication. 

A highlight of the event included a live performance by country music star Rodney Atkins.  Rodney has been named the NCFA 2007-2008 National Adoption Spokesperson. He was the 2006 winner of the Academy of Country Music’s “Best New Male Vocalist” Award, has recently been nominated for the CMA Horizon award, and is currently celebrating his third consecutive #1 hit.  During the lunch performance, Atkins performed several songs including “Watching You” and his latest number one single "These Are My People” and shared his personal adoption story.  Click here to view photos from this performance and of other summit participants.