Guest Blog: From Hopeless to Hopeful. Finding a Family for Paul

Courtney Angeles is a Wendy’s Wonderful Kids recruiter and works each day to find loving permanent homes for children in foster care.

The strength and resiliency of children in foster care is awe inspiring and the families that open their hearts and homes to our kids give me hope for the future. The story that highlights the joys and challenges for me the most is my first case as a Wendy’s Wonderful Kids recruiter. It happened six years ago.

Reading through “Paul's” file I started to panic. He had more than 15 placements and was only nine years old. He was residing at a group home for children with significant behavioral issues. Paul had a horrific early childhood experience filled with neglect, physical and sexual abuse. As a result, he came into care and began physically and sexually acting out himself. How on Earth would I ever find a family for him? …read the full blog here.

The Wendy’s Wonderful Kids program is the signature child-focused recruitment model of the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption. The Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption is a national nonprofit public charity dedicated exclusively to finding permanent homes for the more than 130,000 children waiting in North America’s foster care systems. Created by Wendy’s® founder Dave Thomas who was adopted, the Foundation implements evidence- based, results-driven national service programs, foster care adoption awareness campaigns and innovative grantmaking. To learn more, visit davethomasfoundation.org or call 1-800-ASK-DTFA.