Adoption in Virginia is on the upswing, but a grant from a fast-food chain’s non-profit could see those numbers increase even more.
There were about 75 more children adopted in the Commonwealth in 2025 than in 2024, but there are still about 1,700 in search of a home. That’s where folks like Chad Alls of the Floyd County Department of Social Services come in.
“Most families who want to adopt want a newborn so they can raise the child," Alls told Radio IQ. "And every year it gets a little more difficult to find that placement.”
But Alls is getting some help via an expansion of a partnership program from the Dave Thomas Foundation. Yes, Dave Thomas of Wendy's fame.
Rita Soronen is president of the Dave Thomas Foundation. They’re not linked to Wendy’s directly, but Soronen said the burger maker got into adoption because he himself was adopted.
The foundation runs Wendy’s Wonderful Kids, a grant program to support state-level adoption initiatives, and Virginia is about to expand its program from 3 to 15 adoption recruiters. Soronen said those recruiters have three times the level of success of normal adoption workers.
“We started it as a pilot project, we called it Wendy’s Wonderful Kids because our Wendy’s partners across the United States, the franchisees, began to fundraise in their restaurants and dedicate to the foundation so we could dedicate them back to states to hire these adoption professionals called recruiters," Soronen said.
Duke Storen is with the Virginia Department of Social Services, He said caseloads for existing adoption workers is already huge, and Wendy’s Wonderful Kids support is targeted and invaluable.
“We’ve had this partnership for a number of years and now we’re able to expand it and serve even more children in foster care in Virginia,” Storen told Radio IQ.
And Alls said he's seen Wendy's Wonderful Kids recruiters good work in action.
"That worker has worked with us on several more challenging cases and its' been phenomenal, the progress that's been made," he said.
Since 2006 the program has found homes for about 275 kids. Expansion of the program in Virginia began July 1.
