Our Wendy’s Wonderful Kids (WWK) program helps find families for children in need of adoptive homes. The children in this program present one or more of the following challenges: They are older, have medical needs, are in a sibling group, have behavior issues, or have endured extensive trauma.

CHS’s WWK program hit a milestone of 100 adoptions on February 27, 2020!

CHS staff celebrated these 100 finalized adoptions on Wednesday, September 2, at both ends of the state. Our two WWK staff recruiters—Anne McGovern (Rapid City) and Tina Graber (Sioux Falls)—served cake to staff in all CHS programs. 

“We reached 100 adoptions back in late February, but COVID changed the timing of our celebration with CHS staff. I’m happy to report that as of today, we are actually now at 103 adoptions!” says Ondrea Patzlaff, Program Director for Community Based Services in Sioux Falls.

Meet Lonnie—Number 100!

(You’re not a “number” at CHS. But in this case, we’ll make an exception!)

Lonnie was born with a variety of medical challenges and needed a family who could meet his current and, most likely, lifelong health needs. Due to the severe nature of his medical condition and the associated risks, there were concerns about Lonnie’s life expectancy.

Lonnie was eventually matched with a family in Colorado. His mom, Pam, is a nurse and has exactly the level of experience and knowledge needed to help him thrive. In addition, Lonnie also now has siblings to grow up with.

Tina, our WWK recruiter in Sioux Falls who had Lonnie on her caseload, recently received this message from Lonnie’s mom, Pam:

“We had such an amazing experience and hope to adopt again in the future with the assistance of Wendy’s Wonderful kids in South Dakota. Everyone involved made it such a wonderful experience.”