Dave Thomas Foundation

NVIDIA, a California-based artificial intelligence company that offers employees up to 20 weeks of paid parental leave and assists employees financially with the costs of adoption, has again been deemed to be the most adoption-friendly employer in America.

Last month, the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption released its 11th annual survey of the Top 100 Adoption Friendly Workplaces. The list highlights the country’s top companies offering paid reimbursement and leave packages for adoptive parents.

In the five years between 2007 and 2012, American attitudes about adoption, and the systems that supply adoptable children, significantly dimmed. Their attitudes about the main domestic systems for adoption – private industry and foster care – dimmed by an even greater margin.

In February of 2016, the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption (DTFA) found out it was in line to become part of one of the biggest philanthropic investments in the history of youth services.

Note: This column was updated on November 6 It was a big week in Chicago. The Cubs finally broke through and won the World Series, and all of the intractable problems with child welfare were fixed.

The number of children and youth in foster care has risen for the third consecutive year, according to recently released federal data. Reading below the top line, though, Youth Services Insider sees one figure that suggests that we could see a course correction soon.

As Youth Services Insider reported earlier this month, a small group of youth- and family-serving organizations will soon change forever thanks to massive investments from Blue Meridian Partners, a capital aggregation project led by the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation.

by Brett Shears In an oft-cited survey of American adults, nearly two out of five people thought that foster care adoption was “somewhat” or “very expensive.” But this perception is not anchored in reality and may be the result of prospective parents who frequently conflate the costs of adopting through a public agency and a private agency.

The Dave Thomas Foundation (DTFA) has established that its flagship program is effective in getting older youths adopted; nearly twice as effective as the business-as-usual approach to permanency for those youths.