Becky Fawcett

The average household income in our country is $54,000, the average adoption costs is $40,000. This is the financial hurdle posed by a process that costs 74% of the average household's gross income. This is the most significant obstacle between a child living an unsatisfactory and institutionalized life in foster care or an orphanage versus the safe, encouraging, and loving life that parents can provide in a stable home.

After numerous miscarriages, Becky Fawcett and her husband Kipp decided to go the route of adoption but were one of those families struggling with this financial burden. Becky says, “I couldn’t image my life childless just because I couldn’t afford it.” When the struggle became a little too tough, Becky and Kipp were fortunate enough to have family to lean on for help.
In 2005 Becky and Kipp adopted their son Jake. Then in 2009, welcomed their daughter Brooke, also through adoption. Both Becky and Kipp finally felt like their family was complete.

After adopting Jake and Brooke, Becky and Kipp were so grateful that they had the financial means to adopt that they began to ask themselves, ‘What happens if you don’t have the money to adopt?’ They sought out professionals who were able to answer their question, Becky says, “While we were grateful for their honesty, their answers were bleak. Families often went into financial ruin in order to complete their adoption; others were forced to live a childless life— and childless NOT by choice.”

Inspired to learn more about this issue and in hopes of finding a way to help these families in need they started to research more into the topic. Both became disheartened to find out that while a handful of organizations existed, they were very limited to who they helped and charged a vast amount of fees in the process.

Set out to make a difference HELPUSADOPT.ORG was born.

Becky says, “What started at our kitchen table quickly became a thriving national nonprofit. Our mission to build families through adoption, combined with our commitment to equality, resonated with donors of all kinds” She adds, “There are over one hundred million children throughout the world who need homes. Every day when I go to work I think to myself, ‘What happens to these children if families can’t afford to adopt them? And what happens to the birth-mothers here in the United States if they can’t find the adoptive families they are in search of?’ This is what fuels us. This is what fuels our donors. HELPUSADOPT.ORG is providing a solution to this global problem."

Since HELPUSADOPT.ORG first grant cycle, it has tripled service capacity from awarding $100,000 annually to now awarding $300,000 annually in adoption grants. Building a family through adoption is a privilege, not a right, and too many children may never know what it truly means to go home.
I am honored to introduce a women set out to make a change in the world. These changes have and will touch so many lives. I am honored to call her a friend and mentor in the world of charity and proudly have the opportunity to sit on the board alongside her at HELPUSADOPT.ORG.