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 SOCIAL
WORKER INFORMATION
Welcome
to the section of the MARE website designed to meet the needs
of social workers who are working with waiting children and/or
waiting families. We at MARE value the collaborative relationships
we have with social workers from the Department of Social
Services and adoption agencies in Massachusetts and beyond.
Good communication is essential to these relationships, so
please feel free to contact us if you have any questions and/or
suggestions about our services.
Below
are ways MARE can assist you in finding adoptive families
for waiting children.
Register
and Photolist a Child
The first step in utilizing MARE services for a waiting child
is to register and photolist the child with MARE. When a child
is registered with MARE, a child’s information will
be entered into the MARE database, and the needs of the child
will be compared with the criteria of families registered
with MARE. If any potential matches are identified, MARE will
forward the family’s homestudy to the child’s
social worker. Follow-up on such referrals is at the discretion
of the child’s social worker.
 In
order for a child to appear in the MARE
Photolisting®, please also submit a close-up photo
of the child. The picture can be sent hardcopy to the MARE
office (please include child’s full name and date of
birth on the back of the photo) or via email.
Please note that emailed photos must be in .jpg format and
include the child’s full name and date of birth in the
email. Click here for a list of MARE’s
photo tips. The deadline for submission for the MARE Photolisting®
is the 10th of each month (i.e. for the July pages, all materials
must be received by June 10th).
For sibling
groups, MARE must receive a Child
Registration/Photolisting form for each child as well
as individual photos of each sibling and a group photo.
All waiting
children who are legally free and are in the MARE Photolisting®
will be automatically featured in the Online
Photolisting and the national AdoptUsKids
website.
 Other
Recruitment Options
Once a
child has been registered with MARE and included in the MARE
Photolisting®, he or she is eligible for a variety of
other recruitment opportunities. The programs below allow
waiting families at all stages of the process to get to know
the children available for adoption.
Child-specific
Media Campaigns
MARE coordinates numerous ongoing media campaigns featuring
specific children available for adoption. Some of the most
well known are Wednesday’s
Child with Jack Williams on WBZ-TV 4 Boston, Sunday’s
Child® in the Boston Globe and En
Busca de Hogar with Sara Suarez on Univision. For
a complete list, go to our media campaigns page.
Adoption
Parties and Recruitment Events
Four to six times per year, MARE hosts adoption parties to
bring together social workers, waiting children and prospective
adoptive parents in casual and fun settings. Each party is
held in a different region of the state. Families can learn
more about adoption, meet waiting children and network with
social workers. Adoption Party Guides are available for families
and social
workers.
In addition,
MARE hosts matching meetings for social workers and single
prospective adoptive parents with approved homestudies. At
these meetings, social workers present specific waiting children
through verbal descriptions, pictures, videos, etc. To find
out about upcoming adoption parties and recruitment events,
please go to our events
page.
 Heart
Gallery
The Heart Gallery is a striking portrait exhibit of children
in the Massachusetts foster care system in need of permanent
families. Professional and amateur photographers volunteer
their expertise to create visual images of the children, and
the exhibit moves to different locations around the state
in addition to permanent exhibits at all Jordan’s Furniture
stores.
MARE
Online Matching
This program gives social workers and families the opportunity
to search for waiting children and families who are registered
with MARE, including children who are at legal risk and those
who are not in the MARE Photolisting®. Click
here to view answers to Frequently Asked Questions about
the Online Matching Program. Please note that MARE will
delete accounts in this program if correspondence is undeliverable
to the email address used.
AdoptUsKids
AdoptUsKids is a national website of more than 3000 children
awaiting adoption and families approved to adopt. The AdoptUsKids
website allows families to search for children and for social
workers to search for families throughout the United States.
AdoptUsKids is an initiative of the Children's Bureau, which
is being operated by the Adoption Exchange Association. Anyone
can view the children on the website, but to find out more
about a particular child, including contact information for
the child's agency or social worker, you must have a current
homestudy in the state where you live and become a site member.
Register
a Family and Help Create a Family Profile
We encourage families to register immediately after their
homestudy is complete. Social workers can also register
waiting families who have completed and approved homestudies.
The families’ criteria will be compared with the needs
of the children registered with MARE. If a potential match
is identified, MARE will forward the family’s homestudy
to the child’s social worker. Follow-up on such referrals
is at the discretion of the child’s social worker.
Families
with completed and approved homestudies are encouraged to
partner with their social worker to create a Family
Profile that can be shared with social workers at MARE
events such as Single Parent Matching Nights and Adoption
Parties.
 Social
Worker and Agency Awards
MARE
Awards for Social Workers
Established in 1998, the MARE Awards recognize the exceptional
work done by adoption agencies and individual social workers
to accomplish our common goal of finding permanent families
for waiting children.
Resources
Below
are a few key resources for social workers. Please visit the
Adoption
Resources section of the website for a complete listing.
Guide
to MARE Programs and Services: This is a summary
of MARE procedures and programs designed specifically for
social workers.
Preparing
Children for Media: This is a summary of suggestions
that social workers can utilize to prepare waiting children
for media recruitment.
Adoption
Party Guide: MARE has created this guide to help
social workers prepare children and families for adoption
parties.
Events:
The Events section of the website contains adoption-related
events that are sponsored by MARE and other agencies.
Adopt
Air: This is an Adoption Exchange Association
(AEA) program offered in collaboration with Mercy Medical
Airlift and The Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption to all
AEA members. It gives adoption exchanges and placement agencies
throughout the country the ability to arrange for children
to fly up to 1,000 miles from their place of departure to
attend adoption parties; be videotaped for TV recruitment;
travel to meet prospective parents or for placement visits.
Please visit the AEA
website for more information.
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