Wendy’s Wonderful Kids™
Achieving Permanency for Children in Foster Care
Through our Wendy’s Wonderful Kids program, the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption-Canada supports the hiring of child welfare professionals, known as recruiters, who are dedicated to finding safe, permanent homes for the longest-waiting children in foster care.
How Recruiters Help
The Wendy’s Wonderful Kids program uses an evidence-based, child-focused recruitment model to find the right family for every child. Achieving permanency may include adoption or legal guardianship. And if family reunification is a safe option, a Wendy’s Wonderful Kids recruiter will explore it … always.
Canada Program Results to Date
Wendy’s Wonderful Kids recruiters
A rigorous, five-year evaluation in the United States revealed that the model is up to 3x more effective at serving youth who have been in care the longest.
children have permanent families with help from our supporters
Child-Focused Recruitment Model
While other methods of achieving permanency can be successful, child-focused recruitment has been proven to be the most effective approach for serving the program’s focus population of teenagers, children with special needs and siblings who are too often overlooked.
Wendy’s Wonderful Kids recruiters begin their search within a child’s familiar circles of friends, family and neighbors, and then reach out to the communities in which they live.
Wendy’s Wonderful Kids recruiters are committed to building a trusting relationship with the young people they serve, helping them unpack fears and misconceptions about adoption and other forms of legal permanency.
Wendy’s Wonderful Kids recruiters work with smaller caseloads of 12–15 children to ensure that every child receives the time, resources and support they deserve.
Explore research showing the impact of Wendy’s Wonderful Kids and the Foundation’s evidence-based, child-focused recruitment model.
Who We Serve
Of children currently served by Wendy’s Wonderful Kids in Canada:
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79%
are older than age 8
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9%
have had six or more foster care placements
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31%
have been in foster care for 4 or more years
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91%
received minimal recruitment services focused on finding a permanent family before being referred to the program.
Hear from Professionals Supporting this Life-Changing Work
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