Wendy’s Wonderful Kids® Professionals Celebrate 20 Years of Impact at Annual Summit
In June 2025, the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption welcomed more than 550 Wendy’s Wonderful Kids (WWK) recruiters, supervisors and agency administrators to its annual summit. In its 20th year, the event included three days of education and inspiration featuring keynote speakers, breakout sessions and opportunities for WWK professionals across the United States and Canada to learn from one another and leaders in child welfare.
Rita Soronen, Foundation President & CEO, took attendees on a journey back in time, reflecting on the growth of this evidence-based foster care adoption program, now serving youth in nearly all 50 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and six provinces in Canada. To date, 20 states and provinces have fully scaled or begun scaling the program to ensure there are enough recruiters to serve the number of children waiting in our focus population of older children and teens, children with special needs and siblings in their state. With help from the Foundation’s caring supporters, more than 15,000 children have been adopted through the program.
Keynote speakers included Dr. John “Push” Gaines, Beth Guckenberger, Angela Tucker and Darryl “DMC” McDaniels.
Dr. John “Push” Gaines kicked off Summit 2025 discussing the impact of encouragement on youth development and the importance of ‘great thoughts, great actions, great habits and great purpose’. “When you tell a kid ‘I believe in you’, you’re not just speaking to who they are — you’re speaking to who they can become,” he shared.
Darryl “DMC” McDaniels closed the event sharing his personal journey as an adoptee and how learning about and reframing his adoption as a ‘superpower’ gave him a newfound sense of purpose.
This year’s Summit also included moving musical performances by the Crittenon Youth Center.
Breakout sessions provided opportunities to hear from experts and learn about tools to assist with their child-focused recruitment efforts. “Understanding Permanency for Children in Foster Care,” led by Adina Wambua and Jaia Lent from Generations United, featured a discussion on the differences between adoption and guardianship, as well as 22 practical tips for finding family members of children in foster care who may be able to provide a placement or other types of support. “Focusing on Healing Over Behavior,” led by Beth Guckenberger, Co-Executive Director of Back2Back Ministries and Trauma Free World, outlined the negative effects of trauma and fear in brain development and how protective factors, including supportive relationships, self-esteem, mental flexibility and staying future-focused can help guard against the negative impacts of trauma. Sessions covered strategies for championing inclusion for youth with special needs in care, empowering teens to build resilience, cultivating belonging for LGBTQIA+ youth, a foster care simulation experience and more.
The Foundation also recognized the recipients of the 2025 Wendy’s Wonderful Kids Recruiter and Supervisor of the Year awards. Nominated by their peers and Foundation team members, the following honorees demonstrate an unparalleled commitment to achieving legal permanency for the youth in their care:
Supervisors of the Year
Vance Brunner | Lacey Mai Isenhower
Recruiters of the Year
Jean-Marie Aho | Tina Graber | Kate Russell | Darcy Thachuk
“For 20 years, Summit has provided a special opportunity to bring Wendy’s Wonderful Kids professionals together to learn, collaborate and celebrate their impact,” Soronen shared. “From all of us at the Foundation, we thank these individuals for their service on behalf of children lingering in foster care and for sharing the Foundation’s fervent belief that unadoptable is unacceptable. Together, we can achieve Dave’s vision that every child will have a permanent home and a loving family.”
About Wendy’s Wonderful Kids
Through Wendy’s Wonderful Kids, the Foundation supports the hiring of adoption professionals, known as recruiters, who serve the longest-waiting children in foster care across the U.S. and Canada. That includes older children and teens, children with special needs and siblings. A rigorous, five-year evaluation by Child Trends in the U.S. revealed that children served by the program are up to 3x more likely to be adopted.