Chicago City Wire

For its support of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) households seeking to adopt children, the Illinois Center for Adoption & Permanency (ICAP) resource exchange coalition and agency, based in Chicago, recently scored kudos from the online Human Rights Campaign (HRC).

Recapping the organization’s July Call to Action event, ICAP’s Debbie Saucedo noted increased interest from same-sex couples. ICAP co-sponsored the event with Little City Foundation and other agencies to promote connections for the local LGBTQ community.

“We’ve seen, within this last year, a 22 percent increase in same-sex couples looking to adopt one of our children who has been listed, which is a great improvement for us,” Saucedo said.

The agencies belong to “Call to Action: Foster Our Youth Coalition,” a shared foster-parent recruitment campaign to increase the availability of loving and supportive homes for Illinois children most in need of placement and permanency.

ICAP, founded in 1971, is committed to transparency and accountability in adoption. The organization serves as an administrator of the Adoption Information Center of Illinois. Additionally, it partners with the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, the Adoption Exchange Association, AdoptUSKids and the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption.

“With such a large pool of LGBTQ adults that want to be parents, these agencies have seen the benefits of intentional and proactive recruitment efforts targeting LGBTQ folks,” HRC said.

HRC is a national LGBTQ civil rights organization with over 1.5 million members and supporters nationwide. HRC strives for a world in which LGBTQ individuals enjoy equal rights, living openly and safely at home, at work and in the community.