First State Contract Awarded
It was in this same year that MN ADOPT staff approached this issue with a creative idea – designing and disseminating a magazine photo listing of Minnesota’s Waiting Children which was distributed statewide in order to help find permanency resources and to help bring attention to this underrepresented population. This was a huge step forward for child placing agencies and counties across the State to strengthen their collaboration and advocacy effects on behalf of these children. This initiative was so successful that in 1982 the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) awarded MN ADOPT the state contract to maintain the State Adoption Exchange to help find families for Minnesota’s waiting children.