The Homecoming Project

The Homecoming Project:  Youth/Adult Partnerships for Permanence

For agencies who would like to refer youth to The Homecoming Project, please complete our Referral Form.

The Homecoming Project is a Minnesota Department of Human Services project to increase the number of adoptions of adolescents who are under state guardianship in Minnesota.  The Minnesota Department of Human Services is contracting with the Minnesota Adoption Resource Network (MARN) to provide these services.  This demonstration project, funded by a federal Adoption Opportunities and Activities Grant, provides an opportunity to expand efforts to recruit permanent families for teenagers.

The Homecoming Project is unique in its unwavering commitment to youth
participation in the recruitment process

Using research-based principles of positive youth development

By using strategies that are age and developmentally appropriate, the project will fully engage adolescents in identifying and achieving their own individualized permanency outcomes.  Not only are adolescents able to participate in cultivating their own recruitment plans, developmentally they must participate, in order to mature into healthy adults.  Anecdotal evidence from similar programs nationally suggests that teens who have been a partner in the recruitment process will be more prepared to join adoptive families.

Supporting families

Prospective adoptive parents will require initial and ongoing support to successfully parent the Homecoming Project youth.

• Direct staff contact with each prospective parent
• Assess prospective parent's capacity and interest
• Provide appropriate resources and referrals regarding the adoption process
• Facilitate conversations/contact between youth and prospective parent
• Support youth and prospective parent throughout the process, assuring successful matches
• Discuss other ways a person can be supportive to youth in an ongoing way, if not as an adoptive parent

Support and resources available to prospective adoptive families through referrals

• Pre- and post-adoption support through MN ASAP services
• Pre-adoption support through Minnesota Recruitment Project services
• Adoption home study, adoption placement services and post-adoption services as no charge through county of residence or Public/Private Adoption Initiative contracted agencies

Creating lifetime connections with significant adults

The Homecoming Project recruitment specialists are tuned into the intense emotional issues that exist for young people in need of permanent families. The youth and recruitment specialist will meet as often as necessary to generate ideas regarding prospective adoptive families as well as recruitment techniques unique to the interests of the youth.  Through comprehensive conversation and information sharing, recruitment specialists will support youth in making well-informed decisions about adoption and developing a network of ongoing support.

As the search continues for prospective adoptive families, participating youth are encouraged to join activities in the Our Voices Matter Youth Advocacy Project. Participation in Our Voices Matter serves multiple purposes. It gives youth a chance to connect with others who are having similar life experiences; it helps youth build confidence and leadership skills; and for some youth, it allows them to gain exposure to public forums that might yield adoptive resources.

For agencies who would like to refer youth to The Homecoming Project, please complete our Referral Form.