Massachusetts Adoption Resource Exchange (MARE)

Record last updated 2021/10/28 Comment on this info .Update this info

Narrative

Works with public and private adoption agencies to recruit adoptive families for children in foster care.

The Massachusetts Adoption Resource Exchange finds adoptive homes for children and teens waiting in foster care.

Right this moment, there are nearly 9,000 children in the foster care system in Massachusetts.  These children have been removed from their homes due to abuse or neglect and to prevent future harm.  Some will be reunited with their birth parents; others will be adopted by family members or close friends. 

800 of them have nowhere to go.

These children face the prospect of growing up in foster care, eventually aging out of the system with no supports.  The statistics on the future well-being for youth aging out of foster care are abysmal. The stress and instability of life in foster care takes a physical and psychological toll.  Most children enter foster care with medical, mental health, and/or developmental needs. Some children live in as many as 12-15 homes before they turn 18. 

Permanency -- a lifelong familial connection -- is vital for this population to avoid disparities in income, education, employment, and health, as well as an emotionally damaging lack of support. MARE addresses this by providing children with opportunities to come to the attention of potential adoptive parents in positive and creative ways; and recruiting, supporting, and advocating for families to advance them toward successful adoptions.

MARE serves children and teens in the Massachusetts foster care system who are not able to be reunited with their birth families and need permanent adoptive homes.  We provide vital services to these children by working with the Commonwealth’s Department of Children & Families (DCF) and its contracted agencies to register each child that cannot be reunited with his or her birth family and then recruiting families that meet an individual child’s very specific needs.  We also serve families interested in adoption from foster care through our Family Support Services programs.

Every child deserves a family.

Service Types

• Family Support

Program Type

• Adoption/Foster Care

Populations Served

• All Disabilities

Ages Served

• Birth to 3
• 3 - 4
• 5 - 8
• 9 - 13
• 14 - 18
• 19 - 22

Languages Spoken

• Spanish

Accessibility Features

• Accessible Parking
• Accessible Restrooms
• Elevators
• Near Public Transportation

Additional Information

• Fees: Free Service