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Our
History
Founded
in 1957, MARE was one of the first five adoption exchanges
in the United
States. It was the only exchange to be established under private
auspices with
trustees from the private and public sectors of adoption.
For more than 45 years, MARE has helped to find adoptive homes
for more than 5,000 children and has received national recognition
for its initiatives.
MARE was
then, and is now, the glue that binds together the efforts
and resources of the state agency (DSS) and private adoption
agencies throughout the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to achieve
the mutual goal of finding “a place to call HOME”
for children in need of adoption.
With a
staff of just 12 full-time employees, MARE is able to help
facilitate the placement of approximately 120 children each
year in adoptive homes. There are currently more than 3,000
children in the Massachusetts foster care system who have
a goal of adoption, and about 1,000 of these children are
legally free for adoption. MARE focuses on the neediest of
this population: school-aged children, sibling groups, children
of color of all ages and children with intellectual, physical
or emotional difficulties or disabilities.
MARE additionally
serves prospective and experienced adoptive parents from all
walks of life, including married couples, single people and
gay and lesbian singles and couples. The agency receives over
4,000 inquiries each year from individuals seeking both general
adoption information and child-specific information.
Over the
years, MARE’s program array has expanded to include
a number of specific services related to the recruitment,
matching and referral of adoptive parents seeking children,
as well as a variety of training, support and advocacy activities.
 In
1969, MARE developed a pictorial newsletter featuring children
in need of families, the first of its kind in the nation.
This newsletter evolved into the MARE
Photolisting®, a recruitment tool registered with
the Library of Congress in 1974 and emulated by agencies throughout
the United States and Canada. Available to prospective adoptive
parents at public libraries and adoption agencies statewide,
the MARE Photolisting® consistently leads to placements.
 In
the early 1980’s, MARE began hosting adoption
parties at which prospective parents, social workers and
waiting children can meet and interact in fun and casual atmospheres.
The power of these personal interactions cannot be denied.
More than 400 children have found their parents because of
connections made at these events.
Among
the most renowned MARE programs are Sunday’s Child®,
created in 1976 with the Boston Globe, and “Wednesday’s
Child,” established in 1981 as a collaboration between
MARE, DSS and CBS4 Boston. These media series have transformed
public perception of adoption and the children who need permanent
homes. MARE coordinates ongoing child-specific features with
several publications throughout the state.
For years,
MARE has played a vital role in passing progressive state
legislation and promoting reforms. In 1992, MARE established
the Children’s Adoption and Foster Care Rights Coalition.
This coalition successfully lobbied for passage of House Bill
303, which reduced the length of time children wait to be
freed for adoption from a period of more than four years to
a maximum of 18 months. In April of 1999, MARE supported the
passage of another bill, which included a legal requirement
for DSS to register waiting children with the state exchange.
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