Long Island Adoption Organization Receives National Grant

SYOSSET, NY — MercyFirst, a local organization dedicated to helping New York children in the foster care system, has received a grant from the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, a national non-profit public charity, that will bring children waiting in foster care one step closer to being adopted into and permanent homes.

The grant is dedicated to funding a child-focused adoption recruiter for Wendy’s Wonderful Kids, a signature program of the Foundation.

“MercyFirst is steadfastly committed to ensuring permanent forever homes for the children in our care,” said MercyFirst CEO Renée Skolaski. “We are delighted that the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption’s Wendy’s Wonderful Kids program is supporting MercyFirst in our shared mission.

Based in Syosset, MercyFirst was founded by the Sisters of Mercy in 1894. It provides care for more than 3,200 children, teenagers and their families in sites in Brooklyn, Queens, Nassau and Suffolk. It operates family support programs, foster home and adoption service, treatment family foster care, community-based group homes, mother/child residences and campus-based residential treatment programs.

“We are pleased to be working extensively in New York and across the nation to ensure that every waiting child will have a permanent home and a loving family,” said Rita Soronen, president and CEO of the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption.