Mission: AASK -- Adopt A Special Kid -- believes that every child has the right to a safe, stable and nurturing home and that all children are adoptable. AASK provides education and support services to adoptive and foster families and children. We promote positive changes to benefit children who are in the child welfare system.
Results: AASK inspires change in the lives of children in foster care by promoting and sustaining permanent families. We identify and train competent, caring foster care and adoptive parents, provide education and support services, and nurture stable homes for foster kids. AASK has promoted permanency for foster youth and placed more than 3,400 children with loving families since 1973.
Target demographics: foster care children find stable, permanent, and loving families
Geographic areas served: 22 counties in northern and central California
Programs: AASK's services to families include: recruitment, adoption, and support services. The number of new children coming in to foster care greatly overburdens the counties who look to AASK to perform home study, matching and post-placement services. AASK increasingly places sibling sets, and children between the ages of 4 and 18 who may have a variety of special needs: physical, behavioral, emotional, and developmental issues. AASK offers education, events and networking, award-winning CAMP ALWAYS, and participates in various professional organizations. AASK plays a primary role in supporting child welfare issues. Additionally, AASK has a homestudy program called Hope to Home for families who wish to adopt infants domestically. Finally, AASK annually awards the Dorothy and Robert DeBolt Scholarship, a college scholarship to a youth adopted from California foster care.
Donor & Volunteer Advisory
This organization's nonprofit status may have been revoked or it may have merged with another
organization or ceased operations.
I was introduced to this organization through a friend while we were volunteering for a cancer research charity. After learning about the beginnings of the organization, and the incredible impact the organization has on so many families and children, and the impact that has on society I was really moved. Add to that meeting and gettng to know several of the dedicated, and tirelessly hard-working employees and volunteers, I found the organization to be totally inspiring and have been a donor ever since. Go AASK!
It's been over 7 years (9/6/06) that our three boys moved in with us. Without AASK, our parenting experience would be totally different. The staff are genuine in their desire to help children in the foster care system find their their forever homes. We have been supported by the agency since our orientation and still continue to have them as a resource. Parenting has it's challenges all of which are overshadowed by the rewards. I am thankful for Adopt A Special Kid and the role they play in my life and the lives of my children!
If you have ever considered adoption as an option to create your family - I urge you to come to an orientation and learn how you can enrich you life through parenting.
