For the media

AdoptUSKids is a project funded by the US Children’s Bureau to raise awareness of the need for foster and adoptive families and support the efforts of states, tribes, and territories to find families for children and youth in foster care.

We offer the country’s most comprehensive free photolisting of children and youth in foster care who are awaiting adoption. Families who register on adoptuskids.org can search for children based on criteria including age, gender, location, and conditions, and read detailed narratives describing their interests and needs. These families also post their own profiles, which can then be searched and viewed by caseworkers looking for families for children.

There are 4,200 children and 1,800 families registered on adoptuskids.org.

Read more about AdoptUSKids.

National adoption recruitment campaign: “You can’t imagine the reward”

The US Children’s Bureau, AdoptUSKids, and the Ad Council work in partnership to create a national multimedia public service advertising campaign each year that raises awareness about the need for foster and adoptive families.

This year’s multimedia campaign highlights the rewards of adopting a teen from foster care and the mutual impact adoptive parents and teens can have on each other.

Teens play an active role in choosing their family in the adoption from foster care process, and the decision to become a family is a reciprocal and powerful one. In the campaign’s new “Parents Adopted” PSAs, actual adoptive parents reminisce about how they too were “adopted” during this emotionally-rewarding, mutual process. Together, adoptive parents and teens talk openly about choosing to be each other’s family and detailing how rewarding the journey has been for both parents and teens.   

Each PSA ends with “You can’t imagine the reward,” and is meant to show prospective parents that adopting a teen can foster a life of deep and mutual rewards. This annual campaign is now in its nineteenth year.

Read the press release announcing the launch of the current campaign on October 26, 2023. 

Donate media space

Lending donated media space to this awareness campaign will help us find adoptive families for the children and youth who need the support and stability of a permanent family. Contact Mary Zost at The Ad Council.

Meet our experts

Melinda Kline, national project director, AdoptUSKids

Melinda Kline brings vast knowledge as a child welfare professional spanning over 30 years of experience. Melinda has a master’s in social work degree and is a licensed clinical social worker. In her most recent role, she was deputy director for permanency programs in Kansas.

She has served as the president of the National Association of State Adoption Programs (NASAP) Board and a field ambassador for the Center for Capacity Building for States. 

Family is everything to Melinda, and her culture as a registered tribal member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma informs her passion for the field. 

Melissa Otero, national campaign director, AdoptUSKids

Melissa Otero has more than 20 years of advertising, marketing, public relations, and media experience. In her current role, she leads efforts for the national adoption recruitment campaign and spearheads the national speakers bureau.

Before joining AdoptUSKids, Melissa worked for The Ad Council, directing national media campaigns for leading private and public organizations.

Volunteer speakers bureau

AdoptUSKids identifies and prepares families, youth, and professionals throughout the country to share their stories, experience, perspectives, and knowledge of adoption and foster care at public events and with the media. Read some of our families’ and young people’s stories on our blog.

Contact our national campaign director to request information or an interview.

In the news

• Little Black Book discusses this year’s ad campaign and underscores the need for families for teens in foster care. (September 2022)
• Media Village shares about the campaign and describes the organizations behind creating it. (September 2022)
• Fox 59 news segment highlights teen adoption and new AdoptUSKids national ad campaign. (November 2020)
• Scary Mommy blog post and video: "This Mom Adopted a Teen and It Changed Everyone’s Lives for the Better." (November 2019)
• People reports on AdoptUSKids’ new public service ads and the number of teens in foster care who are waiting for families. (November 2019)