David Nesta "Ziggy" Marley is a Jamaican reggae musician. He is the son of reggae icon Bob Marley and Rita Marley. He led the family band Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers until 2002, with whom he released eight studio albums. After the disbandment, Ziggy launched a successful solo career, releasing eight solo studio albums on his own label, Tuff Gong Worldwide. Ziggy continues his father’s practice of recording and self-releasing all of his music. Marley is an eight-time Grammy Award winner and a Daytime Emmy Award recipient.
An orphanage is a residential institution, total institution or group home, devoted to the care of orphans and children who, for various reasons, cannot be cared for by their biological families. The parents may be deceased, absent, or abusive. There may be substance abuse or mental illness in the biological home, or the parent may simply be unwilling to care for the child. The legal responsibility for the support of abandoned children differs from country to country, and within countries. Government-run orphanages have been phased out in most developed countries during the latter half of the 20th century but continue to operate in many other regions internationally. It is now generally accepted that orphanages are detrimental to the emotional wellbeing of children, and government support goes instead towards supporting the family unit.
The Conrad N. Hilton Foundation is an American non-profit charitable foundation, established in 1944 by hotel entrepreneur Conrad Hilton. It remained relatively small until his death on January 3, 1979, when it was named the principal beneficiary of his estate. In 2007, Conrad's son, Barron Hilton announced that he would leave about 97% of his fortune to a charitable remainder unitrust which names the foundation as the remainder beneficiary.
Maximus Inc. is an American government services company, with global operations in countries including the United States, Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom. The company contracts with government agencies to provide services to manage and administer government-sponsored programs. Maximus provides administration and other services for Medicaid, Medicare, health care reform, welfare-to-work, and student loan servicing among other government programs. The company is based in Tysons, Virginia, has 39,600 employees and a reported annual revenue of $4.9 billion in fiscal year 2023.
The Children's Defense Fund (CDF) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., that focuses on child advocacy and research. It was founded in 1973 by Marian Wright Edelman.
The Adoption and Safe Families Act was signed into law by President Bill Clinton on November 19, 1997, after having been approved by the United States Congress earlier in the month.
In clinical diagnostic and functional development, special needs refers to individuals who require assistance for disabilities that may be medical, mental, or psychological. Guidelines for clinical diagnosis are given in both the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders and the International Classification of Diseases 9th edition. Special needs can range from people with autism, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, dyslexia, dyscalculia, dyspraxia, dysgraphia, blindness, deafness, ADHD, and cystic fibrosis. They can also include cleft lips and missing limbs. The types of special needs vary in severity, and a student with a special need is classified as being a severe case when the student's IQ is between 20 and 35. These students typically need assistance in school, and have different services provided for them to succeed in a different setting.
Catholic Charities USA is the national voluntary membership organization for Catholic Charities agencies throughout the United States and its territories. Catholic Charities USA is a member of Caritas Internationalis, an international federation of Catholic social service organizations. Catholic Charities USA is the national office of 167 local Catholic Charities agencies nationwide.
North Shore Animal League America, headquartered in Port Washington, New York, is the largest no-kill animal rescue and adoption organization in the world. Marianne H. Sanders founded the League in 1944, and the League's mission has been saving the lives of pets through adoption, rescue, spay/neuter and advocacy initiatives. Each year, the League rescues, nurtures and adopts nearly 20,000 pets nationwide, and to date, has placed nearly one million puppies, kittens, cats and dogs into screened homes. One of the first animal rescue agencies on the ground in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the League rescued more than 1,400 pets from the region.
The Orphan Train Movement was a supervised welfare program that transported children from crowded Eastern cities of the United States to foster homes located largely in rural areas of the Midwest. The orphan trains operated between 1854 and 1929, relocating from about 200,000 children. The co-founders of the Orphan Train movement claimed that these children were orphaned, abandoned, abused, or homeless, but this was not always true. They were mostly the children of new immigrants and the children of the poor and destitute families living in these cities. Criticisms of the program include ineffective screening of caretakers, insufficient follow-ups on placements, and that many children were used as strictly slave farm labor.
Dream House For Medically Fragile Children was a Georgia-based organization dedicated to providing financial support and homes to children with severe health issues. It is a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) charitable nonprofit. The organization was founded by Laura O. Moore, a pediatric nurse. The organization eventually served "children [who] had been abandoned by their families because they didn't have the means to properly care for the child. In other instances, the child had been taken from the parents or caregivers because of abuse or neglect." Children could stabilize and improve with good care, and then returning them to their families, placing them in foster homes and/or obtaining adoption would be possible.
The Jewish Board of Family and Children’s Services is one of the United States' largest nonprofit mental health and social service agencies, and New York State's largest social services nonprofit.
UNICEF, originally called the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund in full, now officially United Nations Children's Fund, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing humanitarian and developmental aid to children worldwide. The organization is one of the most widely known and visible social welfare entities globally, operating in 192 countries and territories. UNICEF's activities include providing immunizations and disease prevention, administering treatment for children and mothers with HIV, enhancing childhood and maternal nutrition, improving sanitation, promoting education, and providing emergency relief in response to disasters.
On National Adoption Day courts and communities in the United States come together to finalize thousands of adoption of children from foster care. More than 300 events are held each year on the Saturday before Thanksgiving in November, in all 50 US states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico to finalize the adoptions of children in foster care. In total, more than 40,000 children have been adopted from foster care on National Adoption Day.
The Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute (CCAI) is an American non-partisan, non-profit organization "dedicated to raising awareness about the millions of children around the world in need of permanent, safe, and loving families and to eliminating the barriers that hinder these children from realizing their basic right to a family." CCAI was founded in 2001 by advocates of children in the U.S. and around the world in need of families. CCAI seeks to support Congress' Adoption Caucus, the Congressional Coalition on Adoption, through educating and informing its members on adoption, foster care, and child welfare issues. Additionally, CCAI serves as a resource for Members of Congress and their staff through the offering of information, resources, and opportunities to engage in adoption and foster care programs year-round. This is done through congressional briefings, leadership training programs, educational trips, and other notable programs. The Institute's work is entirely funded by donations and gifts from organizations and individuals. Kate McLean currently serves as the Executive Director of CCAI.
Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New York is one of the largest charitable organizations in the New York metropolitan area. It is a federation made up of 90 social service agencies throughout the 10 counties of the Archdiocese of New York - Bronx, Dutchess, New York, Orange, Putnam, Richmond, Rockland, Sullivan, Ulster and Westchester. It is part of a nationwide network of local human service organizations that form Catholic Charities USA—the fourth-largest social service provider in the United States, according to Forbes, and the 10th largest fundraising organization in the United States, according to The Chronicle of Philanthropy.
The Second Mile was a nonprofit organization for underprivileged youth, providing help for at-risk children and support for their parents in Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1977 by Jerry Sandusky, a then-Penn State assistant college football coach. The charity said its youth programs served as many as 100,000 children annually. The organization has since ceased operations after Sandusky was charged and found guilty of child sex abuse.
Foster care is the term used for a system in which a minor who has been made a ward or a non-minor, typically aged 18-21, who volunteers for placement, is placed in a relative placement, a non-related extended family (NREFM) placement, a community family home, an institution, a group home (residential child care community, residential treatment center, etc. Relative, NREFM, and community caregivers certified by the state are typically referred to as "foster parents," "kin caregivers," "resource parents," or other local terms. The placement of the child is usually arranged through state or county social services. The institution, group home, or caregiver is reimbursed for the expenses related to caring for the child. The state via the family court and child protection agency stand in loco parentis to the minor, making all legal decisions, while the caregiver is responsible for the day-to-day care of the minor. Even while their child is in Care, typically birth parents retain Education and Medical rights and the right to contact with their child unless parental rights are terminated by the Court.
Graham Windham is a private nonprofit in New York City that provides services to children and families. It was founded in 1806 by several prominent women, most notably Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton. Since 2015, the organization has gained renewed attention because of the success of the Broadway musical Hamilton, in which the character of Eliza Hamilton describes the orphanage as her proudest achievement.
Spence-Chapin Services to Families and Children is a New York-based licensed and Hague-accredited non-profit providing adoption services, which includes the continuum of counseling and support services to members of the adoption triad: birth parents, adoptive families, and adoptees. They provide interim care for infants as the biological parents make a plan for the child's future, and also specialize in the adoption of older children, sibling groups and children with special needs.
