Why We Keep Going: Year-Round Foster Care Support
Adriel enters the new year with one unwavering commitment: to provide year-round foster care support so every child and parent we serve knows they are not alone. After a year marked by resilience, growth, and profound moments of connection, we move forward with renewed hope. Our focus remains clear—support foster families with steady, compassionate care rooted in our Christian mission.
Be the one to help us make this year count.
Adriel’s Mission and Opportunity
At Adriel, our mission is to provide safety, healing, and hope to children and families through foster care and trauma-informed behavioral health support. Today, that mission continues to center on walking alongside young people who have experienced significant adversity and ensuring they have the stable, nurturing environments they need to thrive.
Adriel keeps going because every day, young people across Ohio step into our care with the heavy burdens of fear, uncertainty, and questions about where they belong. And every day, we ease those burdens and answer those questions with presence, encouragement, and unwavering compassion. Our work is anchored in Adriel’s Christian roots: a call to love boldly, serve humbly, and stand beside children and families through every season, not just the easy ones.
Learn more about our mission and history.
What did Adriel Accomplish in 2025?
2025 was full of meaningful victories that changed lives, one child, one family at a time. It wasn’t perfect. It wasn’t easy. But it mattered to everyone involved. As the needs of children in care have grown more complex, our priorities have been ensuring that every foster family feels equipped and supported, and that every child can experience belonging and healing in a safe home.
This past year, we were especially focused on strengthening the continuum of care for youth and foster families. That included:
-
Deepening our investment in foster parent recruitment, training, and retention
-
Increasing our touchpoints with youth to offer consistent, steady guidance and improve placement stability
-
Expanding trauma-informed support services grounded in dignity and respect
-
Elevating awareness of the year-round needs of children in care to strengthen our community of supporters
Accomplishments By the Numbers
During the most recent fiscal year (FY 2025, including July 1, 2024 - June 30, 2025), we helped a lot of children and families:
-
317 youth served through foster care
-
163 children placed in qualified foster families
-
Maintained foster care licenses for 163 foster families across the state of Ohio
-
100 families in family preservation
-
97 families served through external respite
-
66 homes evaluated in Teaching Family Model (TFM)
-
Completed 56 license reviews for foster parents to continue foster parenting
-
48 homes TFM certified
-
45 families reunified
-
Licensed 45 new foster families
-
26 foster children adopted
-
26 foster parents received clinical services
-
26 youths received clinical services
Impact Through Programming: Strengthening Support Where It Matters Most
Adriel’s impact this year came to life through the daily work of our programs with continuous improvements, renewed commitments, and meaningful changes that helped children and families experience greater stability, healing, and connection.
Core Initiatives
We began by strengthening the core of what we do: supporting foster families and youth throughout the entire year. Our team expanded trauma-informed services, increased access to clinical support, and improved communication and training pathways for caregivers. These changes weren’t abstract. They directly contributed to greater placement stability and better outcomes for the children in our care. Families felt more equipped, and youth felt more supported.
Relationships
At the same time, we invested in relationships that could bring families into the Adriel community. Through intentional outreach, refreshed messaging, and deeper partnerships across Ohio, we saw encouraging growth in foster parent engagement and recruitment. More families reached out. Existing families stayed connected. And together, we were better able to match children with caregivers prepared to meet their unique and complex needs.
Organizational Improvements
Behind the scenes, meaningful organizational improvements helped make this progress possible. Staff worked to streamline processes, align internal systems, and refine procedures, all with the goal of strengthening Adriel’s long-term sustainability. These operational wins may not make headlines, but they make a difference every single day, allowing our teams to serve families more effectively and consistently.
New Initiatives
Several new initiatives also took root this year, reflecting our commitment to continuous learning and improvement. Our training department introduced new opportunities for foster parents, including specialized monthly in-service sessions developed in response to TFA on-site reviews. We also modernized our licensing process, offering webinar-style classes, simplifying required forms, and embracing tools like DocuSign. These updates reduced barriers for families entering the system while maintaining our uncompromising commitment to child safety.
Fundraising
Of course, some of the most visible moments of impact came from the generosity of our community. The Wish Tree program had an extraordinary year, with individuals, businesses, churches, and local organizations rallying together to ensure every child and young adult in our care felt seen and celebrated. Our annual golf outing and other events strengthened relationships with long-standing supporters while bringing new partners into the mission. And throughout Ohio, communities invited Adriel into their local events—parades, gatherings, church programs—opening doors for us to share our mission and connect with more families.
These moments of generosity were multiplied through the Bright Futures Fund and increased radio outreach, which broadened awareness and helped more people understand the ongoing needs of youth in foster care.
Together, these programmatic efforts—large and small, visible and behind the scenes—created a year of meaningful impact. And they’ve set the stage for what comes next: deeper partnerships, expanded community engagement, and new opportunities to strengthen the support our children and families rely on every single day. We can’t thank our foster families, donors, and partners enough—they make it all possible.
What Is Adriel Focused on in the Year Ahead?
The coming year asks for courage, faith, and relentless commitment from all of us. Our focus is to deepen and strengthen year-round foster care support so that children experience consistency, families feel equipped and encouraged, and no one walks this journey alone.
Our goals include:
-
Continuing the drumbeat of communications and to catch the eyes and hearts of communities across Ohio and beyond to increase year-round foster care support
-
Expanded community education and outreach
-
Growing donor engagement and sustainable funding
-
More robust resources for foster families
-
Strengthening stabilization services for youth
-
Empowering our team with training and support grounded in Christian values
Every one of these efforts circles back to a single truth: children deserve care that doesn’t give up.
How Can You Support Adriel and Make This Year Count?
As we look ahead, the most meaningful way our supporters can help advance Adriel’s mission is through consistent, year-round engagement.
Be the One
There is no bigger, better, more direct or more rewarding way to help than to get trained, licensed, and become a foster parent yourself. It is our greatest need, and it is the greatest gift you will ever give or receive.
Help Us Reach More Potential Foster Parents
Supporters can make a tremendous impact by helping us share our greatest ongoing need: more foster parents. By spreading awareness, having conversations within their circles, and encouraging families to learn more about fostering, supporters help ensure that children entering care have a safe, stable, and loving home to go to.
Contribute Financially
The holidays bring a tremendous outpouring of generosity, and we are deeply grateful for it, but the needs of our children, youth, and families continue long after the season ends. Recurring support, whether through planned giving, monthly giving, or periodic gifts, is essential to sustaining the programs and services that make a lasting difference.
The Adriel Foundation plays a vital role in ensuring we can meet these needs every day of the year. Continued financial support allows us to maintain essential programs, respond quickly to urgent needs, and create new opportunities for growth, healing, and independence.
Volunteer to Help
We also welcome the opportunity to build and strengthen partnerships with individual volunteers to mentor children as a short-term respite foster parent.
Partner with Us
We depend on and value many types of partnerships with other organizations like churches, community groups, and businesses. Whether through hosting a fundraiser, inviting us to speak, sharing our mission on social media, or connecting us with new supporters, every partnership helps deepen our impact.
Together, consistent support, strong community partnerships, and heightened awareness of the need for foster families will empower Adriel to continue providing safety, stability, and hope for the children and families we serve in the year ahead.
