Families Like Ours, Inc.

devoted to adoptive families since October 2000

a nonprofit 501(c)3 origination
 Our mission

The mission of Families Like

Ours, Inc. is to make change
by breaking down the barriers
within the adoption and foster
care communities. Therefore,
reducing the amount of time
our children are waiting for a
stable and safe forever family.
 What is FLO?

Families Like Ours (FLO) is the premier national independent adoption

exchange. We welcome the diversity of all pre and post adoptive-foster
families, creating permanent families for children in the US foster care
system.

What is an adoption The best way to think of us would be an open umbrella. We

exchange? help get kids out of foster care and into adoptive families
Our role is to help stream line the process for families,
overcome barriers, assist the professional team, and make
connections that result in children finding committed
permanent adoptive families.
History of FLO

Families Like Ours unofficially

started in the latter part of 1999
as a family network resource, by
October 2000 we became an
incorporated 501c(3) nonprofit.
By February 2001 FLO was
receiving so many emails and
phone calls for assistance from
both families and professionals,
that we became a full-time
volunteer organization.
 History in the making ..
 2002 became a national resource for
the AdoptUSKids campaign; moved
into small commercial space; started
recruitment activities to find families
for at-risk youth; started giving
parent educational trainings
 2003 – Awarded nonprofit grand
marshals for the Seattle Pride festival
bring adoption and foster care to
more than 100,000 individuals
 2004 – expanded out reach on an
national level and started our SAFE
program for GLBT&Q youth and
families; had a voice on state and
national foster care and adoption
tasks forces
 2005 – nominee as nonprofit of the
year; expand web resources
 2006 – expanded our educational
programs and continued to see more
than a 10% increase in incoming
requests for assistance; was asked to
write training inserts for specialized
at risk youth populations into the WA
State pre-service training for foster &
adoptive families
 2007 – Contacted by the University
of Washington school of social work
as a practicum location for under
grads and graduate students
 2008 – Received nonprofit of the
year from the Greater Seattle
Business Association
 Big things in small spaces
FLO has come along way in its short history.
FLO started out housed in a 5’x7’ storage
room turned office in our founders home.
Shown to the right with Rusty the office
manager at the time.

Today …

 FLO provides over 400 hours of training

each year to families and professionals
 FLO averages 1,034 daily web visitors
 FLO receives nearly 700 direct requests
for assistance each quarter
 Each and everyday 10 or more foster
youth are referred to FLO for assistance in
finding a new family for them
 Currently (2009) FLO is experiencing a
19.7% increase in number of incoming
requests
 Our biggest impact
“I just wanted to tell you that I
finally received my foster license
and my new son will be placed with
me (for adoption-foster) in a few
days! Thank you for all your help!
We help kids get out of
Ben, adoptive family
foster care and into a
Hi David! … you provided me with forever family. Each year
a number of resources to deal with
a small county in California the new families we help
challenging a same sex adoption. I
passed many of your articles onto mean adoptive families for
the judge and the child’s attorney.
Yesterday we returned to court and up to 100 at-risk youth
the couple was identified as the
adoptive parents. Yahoo! … the that no longer call foster
family should be able to finalize in
two months. Thanks so much for all care their home.
your help. Your resources were of
great support.” – state social
worker
 Why FLO?
It’s simple – the children . . .
“Thank you for the work you do!”, Private
agency worker
Help wanted: foster or adoptive parents –
Families Like Ours provides parents-to-be
with foster licensing classes, and
addresses issues specific to gay and
lesbian families.” Northwest Baby and
Child Magazine
Kids need families: Local program,
Families Like Ours find homes for foster-
adopt children.” SGN News
 There are more than a half million
children in the US foster care system.
More than 130,000 are in need of
adoptive families
 More than 50% of foster kids are
over the age of 9 years old
 It is estimated that more that there
are more than 25,000 LGBT&Q foster
youth in care
 More than 20,000 kids each year
“age out” of foster care without ever
finding an adoptive family
 FLO is the only national independent
adoption exchange providing support
and resources to families and
professionals in every state
 How FLO does what it does
Contact:
Our programming addresses the adoptive Information
family mentoring gaps detailed in a report about
Adoption
from the Annie E Casey Foundation; families & foster
are often lost during the gaps in the seven-step Referrals to
On-going
adoption process. The report found that Post Adoption
Placement
Adoption
perspective adoptive families felt and become referrals
foster Agency
lost in the adoption process illustrated in the
Your
chart below. In many cases this resulted in the Family
lack of forward momentum of the family and Families Like
no adoption occurring. Ours (FLO)
Family
once placed
BETWEEN AND Referrals to support
Child & family throughout
The first call Orientation the adoption
resources
process
Training Application
Connections
Assessment Approval with other
families
Orientation Pre-service training and local
resources
Application Assessment
referrals
Approval Placement
 Our key programs

 SAFE: Supportive Adoption & Foster  Education: Professional education for

Care Education program private and public adoption and
therapeutic professionals
 Recruitment, mentoring and retention
of adoptive and foster families  Pride Training: Family education for
foster and adoptive parents
 Supporting: Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual,
Transgendered & Questioning Foster  Commonsense Parenting: Quarterly
Youth and the Families that support educational programs that go beyond
those at-risk youth pre-service training
 Helping hand network of opening and  Website: www.familieslikeours.org
affirming resources and adoption
agencies for families and
professionals Your program never ceases to amaze me! Families
Like Ours has been more helpful and more
supportive than any other agency or individual that
I had worked with during our entire process."
DeAnn Mattson, adoptive parent
 Running FLO
Some of the day-to-day basics . . .
 Family and Professional Support programs:
 Monthly recruitment and retention of adoptive and foster families
 Daily intake of calls and emails from families in need of support and
professionals in need of child and family specific services
 Daily contact with caseworkers and families
 Education and Training:
 16 – 18 Educational programs each year for families and professionals
 Six to ten Pride pre-service trainings each year for new foster and
adoptive families
 A multi-state network of family mentor volunteers
 Website:
 Fresh and active content for more than 1,000 daily visitors
 Support for 10+ local community support groups
 Technical support for families and professionals
 Management and maintenance of our national helping hands network of
resources and placement agencies
 Management and creation of approximately 150+ pages of content for
families and professionals
 Dedicated server and security measures to meet HIPA Laws
 .. wait, there’s more!
 Community Outreach:
 Approximately 100 volunteer community outreach hours per month
 Distribution of approximately 2,000 informational material each year
 Support and distribution of tools and more than 10 local family support
groups
 Distribution of children’s books to families
 FLO supports a storage room for one of our Kitsap County family support
and social groups. They collect used clothing, toys, etc for distribution to
families in need with foster youth
 Monthly community educational programs for adoptive and foster families
 Quarterly family network functions
 Daily respite requests to our peer-to-peer respite program, along with
quarterly respite program with our community partner for pre and post
adoptive and foster families
 Our current strengths & goals
 Strengths
 Because FLO is not associated with any
one state or private placement agency,
we’re often able to cut through the
barriers and make the necessary
connections to move families through
the process quickly
 FLO started and has maintained a very
solid web based presence and
functionality. This means we do not
need a large office space.
 FLO is hands on. Families trust us
because we are one of them, a network
of families-helping-families
 FLO tells-it-like-it-is. We are not
politically correct, we do not adjust the
words to protect a contract. FLO tells
families and professionals what they
need to hear, not want they want to
hear.
 Above the bar education. FLO has a
very solid reputation for exceptional
adult educational trainings
 FLO is and has been ahead of the pack
in technology
 Goals
 Expand our volunteer’s and staff
to handle our increased volume
 Expand our specialized
recruitment program for at-risk-
youth
 Update the look and feel of our
website for a more enhanced
experience
 Expand our community outreach
to find more families for waiting
kids in need
 Increase our funding resources in
order to meet our goals
 Build strong working partnerships
within the business community
“Thank you for a great presentation! I learned a
great amount of things I will use as a case
manager.” Private agency worker
 From the trenches
"The training from Families Like Ours was
fantastic. There was instruction, advice, and a
lot of humor used to provide all the information
and support we could possibly need as we made
one of the biggest decisions of our lives. Not
only do they help navigate through the red
tape of the adoption process, but are there to
help you keep your sanity once the child is
placed in your home." Michael and Megan,
adoptive family
“I think your site is a wonderful resource for
LGBT families at any stage of adoption.” Kathy
(adoptive parent)
“I wanted to praise your organization! My
partner and I adopted three children this year,
we are a male couple and we had no support or
couldn’t find any information that would assist
us in our process. I have since found you and
am delighted.” Thomas, adoptive family
“We wanted to thank you for all the information
you gave us this afternoon … Thanks especially
for the ear and the shoulder; I really felt much
better and less alone!” Lisa and Teresa family
“I recently visited your familieslikeours.org site
– it’s great!” Sherry (adoptive parent)
“Your site looks great, kudos on your hard
work!” Eileen (adoptive parent)
“Thanks once again for your time and for the
great job you do for the Gay and Lesbian
community! Chris and Estrella (adoptive family)
 How our board works

Because of the size of Families Like Ours has a working

support board. Our key staff and volunteer members
manage the day-to-day activities of FLO.
The main purpose of our board is to assist in fundraising
projects, community outreach, resource development and Governor Gregoier center, with FLO
meeting IRS rules for a nonprofit organization. board members and staff

Our board meets at least once each quarter with one annual meeting in October of
each year. Between meetings we communicate via email, phone and one-on-one
time. All FLO board members are required to assist in fundraising activities, and are
encouraged to participate in our other committee’s. Board members are expected to
stay on the FLO board for at least three years.
As part of each board meeting, trainings are conducted to educate the board on FLO
programs, history and board activities such as fundraising.
Board members are encouraged to throw their ideas into the hat, but should expect
to run with an agreed upon idea and make it happen.
 Community Partners &
Supporters
 Professional affiliations include:
 National Adoption Exchange
Association; David Wing-Kovarik,
FLO”s Executive Director is also on
the board of the AEA
 Voice for Adoption
 North American Council on
Northwest Resource
Associates Adoptable Children
 Greater Seattle Business
Association

Families Like Ours! The new

FLO Adoptive-Foster family
event, sponsored by Microsoft
– MS Adopt on their Redmond,
WA campus
Internet non-profit that provides
valuable information and
resources for adoptive families”
Outword News Magazine
 Thank you for support
206-441-7602 | 1-877-230-3055