In honor of National Professional Social Worker Month, we wanted to share a very special story.

Jessica Phoenix is a Wendy’s Wonderful Kids adoption recruiter in Florida who works every day to find safe, loving families for children waiting in foster care. This past year she adopted Zay, a teen on her caseload who had all but given up hope for a family. His adoption was finalized just days before his 18th birthday. Here is their story:

Did you know that the average length of time that a child is in foster care before being adopted is about three years? Most children move house-to-house during that time and often fall behind in their school work, aren’t able to make lasting friendships and find it difficult to trust.

The Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption works hard to find forever families for children waiting in foster care because we believe that every child deserves a safe, loving and permanent home.

No child should linger in foster care, but all too often that is exactly what happens. The Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption’s signature program, Wendy’s Wonderful Kids works to change the face of foster care adoption.

Our adoption recruiters work with the children who have been in foster care the longest, some have given up on a forever family. Our recruiters work with older children, sibling groups and children with special needs, to find them the loving, supportive, safe family they deserve.

For more than a decade the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption has been ranking our nation’s employers with the top adoption benefits. Families like the Royster’s have been able to adopt because of the commitment from the companies for which they work.