Programs & Initiatives

Express Yourself is a series of experiential workshops for youth impacted by foster care and adoption. Offered monthly, these FREE workshops offer children and their caregivers an opportunity to meet others with similar life experiences and express themselves in a creative and supportive environment. It also give caregivers a “night-off” from cooking, as a meal is always served with each workshop.

Creative Arts is a two-hour workshop program that provides an opportunity for youth impacted by foster care to explore, exercise, and develop their creativity through multiple artistic modalities. The workshops are supported by ARI staff and facilitated by consultants from the community who have a personal and professional background in making their own art and are passionate about giving the same opportunity to youth.

One of Adoption Rhode Island’s core beliefs is supporting, encouraging, and facilitating healthy sibling relationships, particularly when siblings are separated in the child welfare system. We honor the importance of the sibling relationship, which research shows can be more powerful than a child’s bond to a parent.

In 2017, a group Adoption Rhode Island staff came together and created a 4-day overnight summer camp program that brought siblings together who had been separated in care. For these few days, siblings were able to bunk together, build fun childhood memories, and live carefree in the beautiful landscape of Camp Aldersgate in Foster, RI (insert link here). Since this first year, the size of the program has nearly tripled, bringing together more and more siblings, some of whom have not seen each other in months.

Some of a child’s greatest joys are experienced during those warm summer breaks from school. Attending camp is often one of those joys. For children in foster care, childhood experiences are sometimes overshadowed by the complexities of living in a child welfare system, which is why Adoption Rhode Island has worked closely with the community to create our Summer Camp Scholarship Program. Since the early 2000s, through multiple community partnerships, Adoption Rhode Island has been able to provide more than 500 “camperships” for children and teens in foster care to attend day camp, in-state overnight camp, and even out-of-state overnight camp, allowing children to have fun, build new friendships, and long-lasting memories.

Adoption Rhode Island is both proud and grateful for its long-standing relationship with Hasbro, Inc. In 2017, Hasbro began funding for Adoption Rhode Island’s Wish program, a program dedicated to providing children with enrichment and educational opportunities (a.k.a. fun!). Since its inception, the Wish program has granted more than 250 wishes for children, such as music lessons for a sibling group, annual zoo memberships, concert tickets, Disney on Ice tickets, shopping spree for ‘new job’ clothes, gym memberships, and amusement park passes to name a new.

Since the early 2000s, Adoption Rhode Island has hosted a holiday gifts program to ensure that children in the state’s foster care system have a holiday season to remember! Adoption Rhode Island works closely with its generous giving community to ensure that the wishes of our children are fulfilled during the holiday season, whether it be a new warm winter coat, a remote control car, or set of art supplies. Since inception, our holiday giving program has grown to be six times the size it once was, providing gifts for more than 300 children every year! If you or someone you know would like to support our holiday gifts drive, please contact us at holidaycheer@adoptionri.org!

NIROPE provides gift cards for furniture to children adopted on National Adoption Day as well as to children adopted through Adoption Rhode Island throughout the year. This program has helped hundreds of children pick out new beds, bureaus and other pieces of furniture to help them celebrate their adoption day.