Children's Orchard Franchise Announces Sponsorship Of First National 'Special Needs' Adoption Network

ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN (Thursday, November 18, 1999) - Children's Orchard, (CO), the nation's original retailer of upscale children's resale stores, unveiled a national public service sponsorship of the first national adoption network for special needs children during national adoption awareness month.

The newly created Interstate Adoption Program of Family Builder's Adoption Network, (FBAN), was initiated by Southfield, Michigan based Spaulding for Children, the National Resource Center for Special Needs Adoption, who sought a solution to the problem of delays associated with interstate adoptions for children who have special needs.

"The FBAN is the first group of adoption agencies in the U.S. to establish an interstate adoption program that recruits families for abused, neglected and 'Special Needs' children, who are often of minority heritage. It also reduces the time it takes to process these adoptions," says Judith McKenzie, president and CEO, Spaulding for Children.

The Children's Orchard sponsorship according to company president, Walter F. Hamilton will involve financial and promotional support from Children's Orchard, it's customers and franchisees.

"We've been searching for a long time to align ourselves with an organization with similar values about children and families," says Mr. Hamilton. Taking this value to a higher level more clearly defines Children's Orchard and what we're all about," says Hamilton.

Maureen Heffernan, the newly appointed director for FBAN, says the partnership will have a national impact on many of the 110,000 special needs children waiting for adoption, 30,000 whom would otherwise reach "age out" of the foster care system without ever having a permanent home.

"Instead of 'aging out' of foster care to life in the streets, we'll be able to get kids adopted before they have completely lost hope and provide good quality services to their families," says Ms. Heffernan.

The new partnership was outlined to Children's Orchard franchisees at their national convention in Orlando this past October. Franchisees will have posters and fund raising materials in their stores by November 18th.

Children's Orchard is headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan, with offices in Newburyport, Massachusetts and Lake Forest, California. CO is the original retailer of upscale kids' resale franchises in the U.S. with its 100th store scheduled to open in the year 2000.

Family Builder's Adoption Network, (FBAN), is a national network of adoption agencies with headquarters in Stow, Ohio. The FBAN program is sponsored by Children's Orchard, it's customers and CO franchisees. The program promotes and facilitates interstate adoptions for abused, neglected and "Special Needs" children.

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