National Foster Care Month is an initiative of the Children's Bureau each May to acknowledge foster parents, family members, volunteers, mentors, and other members of the community helping children and youth in foster care. At Barker, National Foster Care Month is a time for us to renew our commitment to finding forever families for waiting children and youth through our Project Wait No Longer- older child adoption program and our advocacy in the community on their behalf. The most critical voice in the foster care journey is that of the child who is/was in care.

National Foster Care Month is an initiative of the Children’s Bureau each May, to acknowledge foster parents, family members, volunteers, mentors, and other members of the community who help children and youth in foster care. At Barker, National Foster Care Month is a time for us to renew our commitment to finding forever families for waiting children and youth through our Project Wait No Longer- older child adoption program and our advocacy in the community on their behalf. The most critical voice in the foster care journey is that of the child who is/was in care.

Celebrating Barker’s 75th Year | In Uncertain Times, Permanency Is a Matter of Survival

For a town hall this month, older children in foster care were asked what their greatest needs are during the coronavirus pandemic. More than 1,400 responded. Health care was high on the list, but not at the top: the first was food, the second housing. For kids in foster care, the basics of survival are never far from mind.

One of the greatest gifts we receive as an agency is family updates! Recently, we received an update from Sushmita and Tim, who adopted their daughter through Barker's India Program. Here is a glimpse of their story and how things are going for this wonderful Forever Family!

"I knew that adoption was in our future..."

Fortunately, my husband, Kurt, and I had always been of the same mind when it came to a path to start our family. We both did not feel strongly that a biological connection to our future child was all that important. In fact, as a 30-year-old art professional and wife of three years itching to settle down, I celebrated differences and felt excited to welcome a new little person who would be totally different from myself and my husband. I knew that adoption was in our future.

Celebrating Barker’s 75th Year | A Heritage of Diversity

Celebrating Barker’s 75th Year | Where It All Began

The Barker Adoption Foundation has a proud history. Adoption and the adoption field have evolved in positive directions as society’s norms have shifted. Over the years Barker has helped lead changes in practices and policies that have brought better support to and respect for adoptees, adoptive families, and birth parents. 

Adoptions change history, and that was true of Richard and Ruth Barker’s adoption of two children in 1937 and 1940. By 1945 the couple were living in Washington, D.C., where Richard was a successful tax attorney and Ruth a psychologist.