HelpUsAdopt.org Awards Nearly $71,000 To Hopeful GLBT Parents

A few days ago, I got an excited call from Becky Fawcett, the executive director and founder of HelpUsAdopt.org, telling me that her organization has awarded a record amount of adoption-assistance grants to LGBT families in the past year. Out of $250,000 in grants given, nearly $71,000 went to gay and lesbian couples looking to grow their families through adoption.

As I wrote about last year, the nonprofit, which gives individual grants up to $15,000 to help families with the expenses associated with adopting children, is actively seeking LGBT applicants for its program.

"We actively and openly support all families. Other groups restrict their grants to straight, married couples, specifically excluding gays and lesbians, as well as single straight people. That's not how my brain works. To us, family is family," she told me.

According to Becky, no other adoption grant organization has a comparably inclusive mission statement, in that HelpUsAdopt.org doesn't define family or adoption or charge an application fee, and it awards large, impactful grants up to $15,000.

Becky also told me that they've topped the 100-family mark this year, having now given grants to 107 families since it was founded six years ago, and will increase its giving cycle to award grants three times a year in 2015.

"Our goal is simple: we want to help put children in loving homes through larger, life-changing, problem-solving grants. We are pure help, with no fees or strings attached, for families of all kinds," she said.

Full details and the free application can be found at helpusadopt.org. Grants are awarded three times per year. The deadline for applying for the organization's February 2015 grants is December 19, 2014.