Adoptee Mentoring Society Awarded $40,000 Grant from the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption to Support Research-Informed Mentorship
Seattle, WA — March 9, 2026 — The Adoptee Mentoring Society (AMS) has been awarded a $40,000 national grant from the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption®, a national nonprofit public charity dedicated to finding permanent families for children waiting in foster care.
The grant will support the Adoptee Mentorship Project, a research-informed initiative focused on strengthening connection, identity development, and relational stability for adoptees. Funding will support a two-day, in-person mentor training intensive designed to onboard and prepare new adoptee mentors through advanced skills training, applied simulations, and reflective practice.
“Post-permanency support must be intentional and sustainable,” said Angela Tucker, CEO of the Adoptee Mentoring Society. “Too often, support ends at placement, yet adoptees’ needs evolve across a lifetime. We are deeply grateful to the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption for recognizing that our mentorship model is serving a critical function for a population that is too frequently overlooked.”
The Adoptee Mentoring Society’s work is grounded in established research demonstrating that adoption-related needs evolve long after permanency. This includes Out of the Fog and into Consciousness: A Model of Adoptee Awareness by Susan F. Branco, JaeRan Kim, Grace Newton, Stephanie Kripa Cooper-Lewter, and Paula O’Loughlin, which underscores the lifelong nature of adoptee identity development, as well as evidence-based motivational interviewing best practices that support autonomy, reflection, and trust-building. AMS also draws from applied training research studies conducted by Dr. Bonni Goodwin, which demonstrate the effectiveness of experiential, skills-based learning in improving practitioner confidence and competency.
Through this investment, AMS continues to advance its mission to build connection, community, and evidence-informed support for adoptees, ensuring that permanency extends beyond placement to lifelong belonging.
About the Adoptee Mentoring Society
The Adoptee Mentoring Society is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization dedicated to stimulating connection and building community for adopted persons through research-informed, peer-based mentorship. AMS envisions a world in which adoptees experience empowered identity and genuine belonging throughout their lives.
Media Contact:
Juliet Rubin Ramirez
Chief Financial Officer
Adoptee Mentoring Society
juliet@adopteementorship.org