Adoption Store Raises Awareness and Attracts Parents

Last November, hundreds of shoppers at Akron, Ohio's Rolling Acres Mall found themselves drawn to a new store that suddenly appeared between the front entrance and a sporting apparel shop. Like Van's Photo, the retail shop directly across the way, the new store featured enlarged photos of children. Its purpose, however, was not to sell products but to attract parents-adoptive parents for Ohio's waiting children.

Run by A Child's Waiting Foster Care and Adoption Program, the store was not exactly what agency co-founders Jennifer Bessemer Marando and Crissy Bessemer Kolarik initially envisioned for Adoption Month. When Crissy first called the Rolling Acres Mall, she was simply hunting for a place to locate an adoption booth during Adoption Month. As it turned out, the mall contact was so enthused about helping waiting children that she offered the agency retail store space for the entire month of November. She wouldn't let the agency pay for the space either.

Preparation and Advertising

Given the chance to raise adoption awareness in a more inviting, enclosed store space, Crissy and Jennifer set about finding ways to make the store attractive, and attract people to the store. To maximize exposure for the store and for waiting children, the agency:

* contacted other county agencies to inform them about the event. Five counties forwarded enlarged photos of waiting children to hang in the store, as well as flyers about different children.

* obtained several OAPL (Ohio Adoption Photolisting) books for the store. Store visitors were thus able to leisurely page through profiles of waiting children from all over the state.

* took advantage of mall advertising opportunities. In addition to hanging banners above the store front and inside the store, A Child's Waiting posted ads in the windows of vacant retail stores next to the mall's basement food court.

* purchased radio air time. During the month, WKDD 98.1 (a family-friendly top 40 station) ran 60-second spots featuring a young girl talking about adoption and an adult providing adoption statistics and agency contact information. During the station's morning show, radio personalities also broadcasted "live reads" of the ads that included mention of the adoption store.

* obtained give-away items-adoption-themed coffee mugs, canvas bags, pens, pencils, magnets, and book markers, etc.-from AdoptOhio and some of the counties. Store visitors, Jennifer and Crissy thought, should to be able to take something useful away that would remind them about Ohio children who need adoptive homes.

Store Operations

A couple weeks after the adoption store opened for business, WKDD radio came by with on-air personalities and their furry mascot, Lucky. Outside the mall, the radio station erected a huge blow-up version of Lucky to attract customers from the parking lot. WKDD was at the mall to collect food for the "Harvest for Hunger" food drive, and helped to draw attention to the store as well.

Most who entered the store were immediately struck by the photos of children on the walls and on display tables. "I can't believe there are older kids who want to be adopted," said some. Others expressed dismay that so many pictures featured children of color. No matter how visitors reacted, agency staff greeted everyone with a smile and invited them to review written materials, select a give-away item, and ask questions.

A Child's Waiting staffed the store with rotating shifts of employees, as well as a few volunteer adoptive families and a student intern. During November, they managed to keep the store staffed seven days a week (10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and noon to 5 p.m. Sundays). Because the agency used qualified staff, prospective parents who visited the store could get most all of their questions about adoption answered immediately, and even go through an onsite intake interview.

The agency also sponsored meetings at the store from 7 to 9 p.m. on Friday evenings for those who wanted to learn more about adoption. Along with punch and cookies, staff who led the meetings supplied general adoption information, discussed how to start the adoption process, answered questions, and encouraged participants to attend the agency's December training.

To handle phone inquiries generated by the radio ads and other advertisements (including the large banner with their toll-free number-1-866-YES-ADOPT-hanging above the store entrance), Jennifer and Crissy kept a few staff back at the office, and after office hours had the calls forwarded to their cell phone. Anyone who called during November was told about the Friday information meetings at the mall, and notified about the December training.

One Family's Experience

Robin and Gerald Holiday are the parents of two teenagers and have been planning to adopt for awhile. Before moving to Akron, they attended classes and started the home study process in another county. They had even identified children they hoped to adopt, but when the agency worker canceled an appointment to talk about the children and said she couldn't return for at least a month, the Holidays were very disappointed and discouraged.

Last November, the couple noticed an ad in the newspaper for the adoption store at Rolling Acres Mall. Still very interested in adopting, Robin went to the store to see what she could find out. She was impressed with the display of children's pictures and descriptions, and spent a long time talking with Jennifer. Encouraged by what she had learned, Robin came back and initiated adoption proceedings with A Child's Waiting. Less than five weeks later, the Holidays had a new approved home study and were ready to start the selection and matching process.

The appeal of Adoption Month, and the Holidays' desire to keep five siblings together helped them to decide to more than double the size of their family. On May 4th, they had their first visit with the three boys and two girls-ages 1, 6, 7, 8, and 10-whom they plan to adopt. The Holidays realize that their lives will be quite different when the children come home for good. They also know that the children's lives will change for the better once the sisters and brothers are part of a stable, loving, and permanent family.

Outcomes

The Holidays were one of more than 40 families who submitted an adoption application after responding to the appeal of the adoption store. During November, A Child's Waiting conducted a total of 127 in-store intakes (versus the 30 to 60 intakes in an average month), and they are still receiving telephone inquiries from people who heard or saw the advertising, or passed by the store last November. Heightened name recognition has helped the agency to attract more prospective adoptive parents.

Due to exposure gained during Adoption Month 2001, Jennifer and Crissy have also received new invitations to speak about adoption at different venues in the community. In the past few months they have shared their adoption message with church members, at a teachers' union fair, and through grass roots family-centered neighborhood programs.

Jennifer and Crissy acknowledge that the month-long adoption event took a lot of energy and dedication. But the outcomes far exceeded expectations, and four families have already started visitation with a total of 10 waiting children. Soon, because of the adoption store, these children will begin a new chapter in their lives with a permanent family. More permanent connections are in the works. ]

Sisters Jennifer and Crissy started A Child's Waiting in January of 2000 in the hopes of helping waiting families and waiting children to more quickly and efficiently find one another. The agency recruits, trains, studies, and licenses foster and adoptive parents, matches children (infants through teenagers) with families, and offers pre- and post-adoption support services.

Adoption Store Lessons

Find partners. Before approaching a mall, connect with other agencies that can provide pictures and profiles of waiting children, and share space rental costs. The more children prospective parents see, the more likely they are to connect with a child or sibling group.

Pick a mall carefully. Approach malls whose patrons reflect the children in your agency's caseload. A Child's Waiting learned that the Rolling Acres mall had a racially diverse mix of customers whose incomes were in the average to slightly below average range-demographics that studies connect with parents who adopt from foster care.

Use targeted advertising. To draw in more "business," target advertising to segments of the community that are reflective of waiting children. For instance, try working with radio stations and newspapers that target communities of color and working class audiences.

Prepare your pitch. Malls can benefit from adoption stores, especially during Adoption Month. As they seek to win over holiday shoppers, adoption-friendly malls show that they are sensitive to families and children and are embracing the holiday spirit. Agency-sponsored ads for the adoption store can also attract business for other mall stores.

Give back to the community. To help give back to the community while recruiting parents, A Child's Waiting helped WKDD with their food drive by collecting dry goods at parent trainings and from its staff. The more positive, warm connections agency staff can make within a community, the more likely the agency is to draw in families.

Staff the store with friendly, knowledgeable people. Prospective adopters-especially those without a home study-rarely get to have all of their questions answered by a live person who knows a lot about adoption. Those who make a personal connection with your staff are much more likely to follow the process to the next level.

Establish a plan for follow-up. While most staff are at the mall, leave one or two at the office to handle phone calls and walk-in traffic, send out pre-made follow-up packets, and convey messages to and from the mall. Follow-up is especially crucial since family retention is the better part of finding adoptive families for waiting children.