During the 2024 Wendy’s Wonderful Kids® Summit, the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption recognized Tyler, a Wendy’s Wonderful Kids recruiter with Caring for Kids in Ohio, as a Recruiter of the Year. Tyler’s passion is contagious, working tirelessly to find the right family for every child in his care.
Through our Wendy’s Wonderful Kids program, the Foundation supports the hiring of adoption recruiters, like Tyler, who are dedicated to finding permanent families for the longest-waiting children in foster care. That includes teenagers, children with special needs and siblings. These professionals use an evidence-based, child-focused recruitment model to find the right family for every child in their care.
A rigorous, five-year evaluation revealed that children referred to Wendy’s Wonderful Kids are up to 3x more likely to be adopted.
“All components of the child-focused recruitment model are valuable equally, but I really like the diligent search aspect of it, where I’m able to investigate and identify a list of people who may not already be in the child’s network,” said Tyler. “Then, utilize my energy to engage those individuals to help broaden their support circle, thus increasing their opportunity of permanency.”
Not only does Tyler show up for the children and families he is supporting, but he also goes the extra mile by serving as a mentor for new recruiters.
“[Tyler] is an exceptional recruiter,” shared Stephanie, a Wendy’s Wonderful Kids supervisor. “He believes in the model and works it diligently. Tyler also just has an amazing, optimistic attitude that … helps him to build great relationships.”
Congratulations, Tyler, and thank you for your contagious passion in advocating for children lingering in foster care.
You can join the Foundation in recognizing the life-changing work of Wendy’s Wonderful Kids adoption professionals, like Tyler, by sending them a thank you note.
