Click on a picture below to see that article.
The Dalles, Oregon – May 20, 2020
Check out this heartwarming story on KGW about a virtual adoption with one of our families.
Eugene, Oregon – January 16th, 2020
Peer to Peer fundraising gives potential adoptive parents the opportunity to include their friends and family in a fundraising effort for adoption fees to begin their adoption journey.
Eugene, Oregon – Steptember 3rd, 2019
Take a peek at this great article in the The Register Guard featuring Heart of Country Festival & other opportunities that aim to encourage synergy between businesses and the community!
Eugene, Oregon – March 3rd, 2019
Our 2019 Princess For A Day event has been our most successful one yet with 400 girls, most of which are in foster care, enjoying a day full of royal pampering alongside their favorite Disney princesses. Thank you to our community, volunteers, and those who donated for making this amazing event possible each year.
Eugene, Oregon – January 2018
As we prepare for our Annual Princess for a Day event, we rely on our community for their support and donations and in this case – Princess style clothing and accessories. The Eugene Police Department has been a long-time supporter of our organization and events and one of the ways they show their support is by hosting one of our Princess for a Day Donation Drop Boxes. KEZI joined our efforts this morning by spotlighting our Princess for a Day donation drop box (see video) located at the Eugene Police Department.
Eugene, Oregon – December 2018
We at AFFEC are honored to work with many families and even more amazing volunteers. Please take a moment to check out our latest video highlighting a few of these amazing people. We could not do what we do without each of you!
Thank-you!
Eugene, Oregon – July 2018
Check out this video about what drives all of us at AFFEC. In our 12 years as an organization, AFFEC has placed over 6,000 children into forever families. We will be here until every child is loved, until every child has a best friend, until every child has a family. Together with you, we can make a change!
Eugene, Oregon – May 2018
Thank you so much to the Students/Teachers and Donors that support and participate in the Oregon Community 101 Program at Kalapuya High School. We were awarded a $1,500.00 grant for our Host Home Program!!!! Congratulations HIV Alliance, Bags of Love Eugene who won as well! It's a great day for the community.
Eugene, Oregon – Friday, April 13, 2018
Check out our upcoming Blues Benefit. Join us for a night of those cool blues, with artists like Jerry Zybach, Lisa Mann, the Hank Shreve Band, Howlin Dogma and Joanne Broh & Friends. There will also be a special performance by First Press, a Blues Society youth group!
Eugene, Oregon – Monday, March 12, 2018
Runners from every state are taking part in this year’s Eugene Marathon. Even though some may be thousands of miles away, they are supporting nonprofits in Lane County. “So our mission is to find permanent and loving homes for every child waiting in the foster care system,” said Aurora Sherman, A Family For Every Child. A Family For Every Child is just one local nonprofit the marathon is connecting with this year in its Eugene Has Heart campaign.
Eugene, Oregon – Sunday, March 4, 2018
Thanks to one special organization, royalty made its way into Eugene this weekend, giving young ladies the royal treatment and transforming them into princesses for the day. It may sound like a fairy tale, but in Eugene, real princesses walked the red carpet at Valley River Inn on Sunday.
Eugene, Oregon – Friday, February 9, 2018
Princess for a Day is less than a month away. The event is a fundraiser for A Family For Every Child Heart Gallery and gives kids, including foster children, the chance to be a princess for a day. They dress up, get their hair and nails done and essentially are treated like royalty. To pull off this event, organizers said they are in need of volunteers.
Eugene, Oregon – Thursday, November 9, 2017
Christy Obie-Barrett talks about the triple homicide that shocked Oregon. Watch as she talks about the effect stories like this have on adoption. She offers a unique insight into the system and the issues that children and adults face.
New York City, New York – Wednesday, May 10, 2017
Meet the Oregon mom who raised 12 kids (9 of them adopted) | Today Show Watch Christy Obie-Barrett on the Today Show as part of the “Magnificent Mamas” series!
Eugene, Oregon - Wednesday, January 10, 2018
You never know what will lead you to adoption! Watch this video and see how working with birds of prey led one woman to adoption. Originally her and her partner never wanted kids, but an orphaned baby owl started a change! We are very blesses to have be part of their journey!
Eugene, Oregon - Sunday, April 3, 2016
Girls ages 2 to 18 got to spend their Sunday as a princess for a day. It's meant to be a gift for foster girls, but all girls in the area are welcomed to participate for just $50. They had their makeup done and hair styled. They even pick out dresses and accessories to get their pictures taken. After getting dressed up, the princesses were announced as they entered the ballroom, where they got to dance and enjoy sweet treats.
Eugene, Oregon - Sunday, April 3, 2016 | KMTR 16
Over 350 girls got to feel like a princess Sunday at the annual 'Princess for a Day' event, and many say the best part was the priceless reactions from families, children, and foster kids. The event is held by the Family for Every Child organization. Hundreds of children (aged 2 to 18) and families visited the event at Valley River Inn, where the princesses received the royal treatment.
City, State - Weekday, Month Day, Year
The 8th annual "Princess for a Day" event is just weeks away, so now is the time to register or turn in those last minute donations. The event is hosted by "A Family for Every Child." It gives local foster children a day of glamour at no charge.
Older Articles
|
Pixie dust and community efforts make real magic happen | KVAL
Eugene, Oregon - Sunday, May 3, 2015 Foster Children from all over the Northwest travelled to Eugene this weekend to become a princess for a day. Nearly 400 girls between the ages of two and 18 received VIP treatment at the Valley River Inn thanks to the group “A Family for Every Child.” The community donated thousands of dresses, boas, slippers, and tiaras to make these girls feel like royalty. “This day is about making a princess feel beautiful so any girl in the community can come in and just feel gorgeous for a whole day,” said event coordinator Sarah Cohen. |
|
|
AFFEC Event Video 2014 | YouTube
Annual Event Video - Presented Thursday, November 13, 2014 A Family For Every Child runs: An Adoption Agency, Mentor Programs, Heart Galleries, and a Mentor Program. Everything that we do is to make sure that these kids spend the least amount of time in foster care. Ask the kids, what it is like to be in foster care. We help parents too: our Matching Assistance Program helps potential parents locate and adopt children from any state of the country and overcome some of the hurdles involved in the process. |
|
|
Foster Care: New program aims to keep kids out of system | KVAL
Eugene, OR - Tuesday, May 13, 2014 Emilio, Ben and Emily now have what they've always wanted: a loving, stable, permanent home with the Jessops. Emilio was in foster care for 5 years before being adopted. "It's really great just to have a family that's going to care for me," he said. That's something 8,000 kids in Oregon - more than 1,000 of them in Lane County - are still searching for. |
|
|
Eugene, Oregon | Facing Life Head On
Eugene, Oregon - April 22, 2014 TV Host Brad Mattes introduces you to A Family For Every Child's founder, mission, direction and also to a family A Family For Every Child has helped with multiple adoptions. |
|
|
Hero for a Day | The Register Guard
Eugene, OR - Sunday, April 6, 2014 Like Spiderman and Batman, 5-year-old Izaiah hasn’t grown up in a traditional family. While the superhero characters lost their parents at a young age, Izaiah spent part of his childhood in foster care, not knowing which home was permanent and which was temporary, before being adopted by Tom Leggate and his family about a month ago. |
|
|
Hero for a Day | University of Oregon
Eugene, OR - Wednesday, April 2, 2014 The O Heroes program, along with the A Family for Every Child organization, will give foster children and local kids ages 3-18 a chance to be a "Hero for a Day" on Sunday afternoon at the Moshofsky Center. |
|
|
Foster Kids Meet Potential Parents at Special Events | YouTube
A Family For Every Child - March, 2014 Many Heart Galleries, like A Family For Every Child, sponsor many different kids of special events in which foster children are introduced to potential parents who may eventually adopt them. This video shows two events where foster kids meet adults who might become their forever family. |
|
|
Putting Princesses First | The Register Guard
Eugene, OR - Wednesday, March 5, 2014 For organizers of a special community event for girls, the glitz and the glam is in the giving and joyful receiving. Princess for a Day is sponsored by local nonprofit A Family for Every Child, which helps children in the foster care system find permanent, loving homes. The event serves primarily girls in foster care, although anyone is welcome to attend. |
|
|
Royal Treatment | The Register Guard
Eugene, OR - Monday, March 3, 2014 Their hair primped, their necks sparkling and their giddiness unrestrained, hundreds of girls left the Valley River Inn feeling like royalty on Sunday. The Eugene-based nonprofit A Family for Every Child held its annual Princess for a Day event to pamper foster girls between the ages of 2 and 18, and to raise awareness of the plight of many foster children through Oregon. |
|
|
Eugene Police collect items for Princess for a Day | Lane Today
Eugene, OR - Monday, February 24, 2014 Princess For a Day is an annual event where girls get pampered and enjoy a tea party. Each princess receives a gown to take home, along with a crown and slippers.... |
|
|
Birthday Girl, 11, Gives Away All Her Gifts | KVAL News
Coburg, OR - Monday, September 30, 2013 "She came up to me about a month and a half ago," said Melissa Bermudez, Kyleigh's mom, "and she said, 'Mom for my birthday this year I don't need anything. I just want everybody to just give presents for the kids in need.'" Friends, family and people in the community donated. "These are all boxes for the foster kids," the birthday girl said Monday. "They're signed girls clothes up here, and boy's clothes. These are a bunch of shoes, pants and jammies and stuff. And here's toys for the foster kids." Kyleigh and her mom are working with the organization A Family for Every Child to make sure all those presents go to a good home. |
|
|
Ramsey keeps beating the odds | ESPN
Louisville, KY - Friday, August 23, 2013 Ramsey overcomes adversity to reach Louisville Three-star defensive end Terry Ramsey committed to Louisville in July. But his route to an FBS scholarship took him through years of uncertainty in foster care. Now, with a permanent family, Ramsey is ready to take the field for his senior season. |
|
|
Hero For A Day: A Family For Every Child begins fundraising for an event for boys | KVAL
Eugene, OR. - Thursday, June 27, 2013 A Family For Every Child, in partnership with other local agencies, begins fundraising for foster boys to be a "Hero for A Day" |
|
|
Power Talk: A Discussion of Adoption
National - Wednesday, November 21, 2012 Our Associate Director Linzy Munger and others appeared with Linda Ballesteros to discuss Adoption on Power Talk. Hear the former President of the Gift of Adoption, an organization that inspires adoption by providing grants to qualified parents wanting to adopt, speak about how families can utilize their supports. Gift of Adoption helps families figure out what kind of adoption is right for them. Linzy speaks about our matching assistance program and the services we provide families who want to adopt from foster care but might be finding barriers in doing so. Linda's Daughter April Keppinger spoke about her adoption experience and working with A Family For Every Child. |
|
|
AFFEC Helps a Child Find a Forever Family
Eugene, OR. - Thursday, October 25, 2012 Thanks, largely, to the Eugene-based A Family for Every Child adoption agency, he not only has found a foster home that's working for him but is scheduled for permanent adoption by a Maryland couple before year's end. "They already love me," he says. "That's the great part. They're willing to tackle my problems with me." |
|
|
Brownsville Country Music Festival Invites Foster Kids | Eugene Register-Guard
Eugene, OR. - Friday, August 17, 2012 A glitz factor has been added to recent lineups at the Bi-Mart Willamette Country Music Festival. In just five years, big names and big crowds have become the norm. Stars such as this year’s closing acts — Sugarland, Martina McBride and Trace Adkins — are vastly popular in the country music world. And several others, such as the Band Perry and Jana Kramer, are moving up the Billboard charts. |
|
|
|
BiMart Willamette Country Music Festival Hosts Foster Children | Albany Democrat Herald
Albany, OR. - Monday, August 13, 2012 For the second year, the Bi-Mart Willamette Country Music Festival will support the HEART Gallery, a national effort to find a home for every foster child. There are more 12,000 children in foster care in Oregon and 500,000 nationwide. Fewer than 50 percent will ever return home to stay. |
|
|
It's really important to make them feel special | KVAL News
Eugene, OR. - Sunday, March 4, 2012 More than 300 young girls got to be princesses for the day Sunday. The girls were given the royal treatment including hair, nail and makeup styling, plus a tea party lunch and a special photo shoot. Springfield-based non-profit A Family for Every Child organized the event. |
|
|
A Family For a Child and Princess For A Day | KUGN News
Eugene, OR. - Friday, March 2, 2012 - A Family For Every Child is a non-profit organization based in Springfield, Oregon where what we try to do is find a loving and permanent home for every waiting foster child....Click left to hear more |
|
|
GUEST VIEWPOINT: Even the best foster homes can't replace family support
Eugene, OR. - Wednesday, Dec 28, 2011 - When you hear about child abuse or neglect, most people's first reaction is "get that kid out of danger." Once we know the child has been removed, we breathe a sigh of relief, assume that the child will be better off in foster care, and consider the problem fixed. If we think of the abuser, it is almost always to condemn and judge: "How could they do that?" |
|
|
The generosity of employees and local businesses makes Christmas a
joyous time for nonprofit organizations
Eugene, OR. - Sunday Dec 25, 2011 - How much holiday spirit can you cram into one little office cubicle? If you are Britni Hartford at the International Society for Technology in Education, the answer turns out to be — whole sleigh loads full. |
|
|
12 Kids Is Just a Start
Eugene, Oregon - Saturday, May 9, 2009 - Many hands pitch in to put candles on the first cake of "birthday season," as the Barrett family of Eugene calls the busy months of April through July. Christy Obie-Barrett and her husband, Bill Barrett, built a rambunctious, affectionate family of 12 biological and adoptive children before she started a nonprofit focused on making a difference in the lives of many more children. |
Oregon Ducks Assistant Coach Scott Frost mentors a teen.... can you? Scott Frost started as a mentor in Eugene more than two years ago, an experience that turned into much more than he had planned. After mentoring turned into fostering, Frost said: "I forget who said it, but a quote that I really like is, 'Don't make the mistake of doing nothing because you can only do a little.' I'm not there for Chris as often as I'd like to. But because I'm there for Chris, I've seen changes. Not only that, it's been one of the best things I've ever done for me. Because I'm starting to realize the value of having someone completely depend on me, and the impact that I can make on someone." We have a need for more male mentors in the Eugene / Springfield area. Stop making excuses why you shouldn't.
The Register Guard
November 10, 2011
Local shopping malls brace for Black Friday
Valley River Center joins a growing trend in planning a midnight opening
Princess for a Day
Paonia, Colo. June 16, 2011 –
Once a year, A Family for Every Child, an Oregon-based nonprofit that works to place foster children in permanent homes, hosts its Princess for a Day fundraiser. For $50, participants get pampered and primped, glittered and gifted with goody bags and gowns and an elegant tea followed by ice cream sundaes and a dance with a handsome prince from a college fraternity. Kids in foster care get to attend for free. "This is stupid," a teen in glasses muttered to her friend as she entered a conference room full of perfumed beauticians wielding curling irons.
READ MORE...
Princess For A Day
EUGENE, Ore. - A Family For A Child is a non-profit agency which seeks to find a permanent loving home for every waiting foster child. In line with its mission, A Family For Every Child sponsors A Princess For A Day, an event where girls in foster care can be...
A Family for Every Child
An Oregon mother has made it her life's mission to find forever families for Oregon and Washington foster children. Mother of 12, Christy Obie-Barrett, says when her youngest child entered kindergarten she decided she wanted to spend her free time helping others experience the gift of family.
A message from the heart
Chiropractor encourages foster parenting on the Harbor
Article By Leif Nesheim The Vidette (Monsanto Wa.)
Facebook: A Family for Every Child “Heart Gallery” lends a helping hand to foster children
Each year, A Family For Every Child works with 250 of the 1000 kids in the Lane County foster program.
NPR News - Adopted Teens Face Higher Risk for ADHD
CNN Nancy Grace Extraordinary Parent Contest
(Christy Obie-Barrett nominated!)
OregonLive.com
THE BACHSCORE: Ducks assistant Scott Frost speaks about mentoring teen
The Register Guard
Family counts for everything: Mother of 12 balances busy home life with working to meet the needs of children waiting for families to call their own.
GUEST VIEWPOINT: Service class teaches timeless lesson — how to be charitable
The Register Guard
PAGES FROM THEIR LIVES:
Volunteers put their hearts into designing pages for adopted children's Lifebooks
We Are Family
(An AFFEC Success story)
Some people
are meant to be parents: Julia and her family were supposed to go to Southern Utah for spring break. Instead, they're here at the Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport. Eleven-year-old Julia loves this place. Today she's wearing pink and purple: a purple hat with sparkly plastic jewels, a pink hooded sweatshirt, purple flip-flops.
"This spring, Hiram's portrait will join those of more than 300 other New Jersey foster children at an exhibit titled Heart Gallery of New Jersey. If all goes well, adults who visit the exhibit (or view the photos online at www.heartgallerynj.com) will be moved to adopt."
"Organizers hope that if more people see compelling portraits of Jaillah and other children like him - life-size and lively - more will consider adoption."
They're photographing the children with the same dignity and respect that they would give to big stars and CEOs,' notes Feanny. 'They're bringing the same lights and assistants, the same backdrops.' One boy, she recalls, said to his social worker, 'I feel like a movie star."
"Nearly one hundred thirty thousand children in the U.S. public welfare system are waiting to be adopted. Most are eight years old, or even older. Now though, there is a new strategy to get them a home."
ABC News- Aging Out of Foster Care
"The Heart Gallery" helps kids find homes
Christy Obie-Barrett appointed to newly formed National Heart Gallery Board
Christy Obie-Barrett, President of A Family for Every Child, and Director of the Heart Gallery of Lane County, has accepted the invitation to join the National Heart Gallery Board. She will be presenting workshops at the first national Heart Gallery conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico at the end of August. Heart Galleries are an innovative adoption recruitment tool using positive portraits of children needing adoptive homes.
Christy will have national impact on adoption recruitment practices.
Local organization to lead the charge in innovative adoption programs
Heart Galleries of America Conference, Aug 25-28, New Mexico.