named programs · 8 · from sources
What they call their work
Adoption Covenants
Non-legal ceremonial documents and rituals that symbolize unconditional commitment between adoptive parents and children, reinforcing emotional bonds and permanency.
Alumni Program
Offers lifelong support to anyone previously served by Family Focus, ensuring continued access to resources, advice, and community regardless of adoption outcome.
Birth Parent Counseling
Offers compassionate counseling and support to birth parents navigating the adoption process, emphasizing dignity and long-term well-being.
Empowered Transition
Step-by-step process that empowers children and families to make joint decisions during the adoption transition period, increasing the likelihood of successful, lasting adoptions.
Growing Adults Through Empowerment (GATE)
Supports emerging adults who have aged out of foster care by teaching practical life skills such as financial management, job applications, and transportation navigation.
Guide to Adulthood Program (GAP)
Provides ongoing support to youth who choose to sign out of foster care before age 21, maintaining connections through their Future Worker to prevent isolation.
Home Studies
Provides domestic and international home study and post-placement services for families pursuing adoption, including training and compliance support.
Relationships Are Decisions (RAD!) Program
Pairs older children in foster care with a dedicated Future Worker who provides consistent, long-term support regardless of placement changes, helping them prepare for adoption or independent adulthood.
activities · 4 groups
What they do
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Comprehensive Adoption Services 4 activities
- Developing symbolic adoption covenantsCreates Adoption Covenants as formal, symbolic documents that affirm unconditional family commitment during the adoption process, first introduced in foster care adoptions on March 12, 1996.
- Facilitating foster care and domestic adoptionsPlaces children from the foster care system into adoptive homes through county-enrolled programs and provides comprehensive adoption services for families adopting domestically, including home study assessments, post-placement supervision, and finalization support.
- Operating international and newborn adoption programsProvides home study services, family transition support, and post-placement reporting for families adopting internationally or pursuing newborn adoptions, including kinship and stepchild adoptions.
- Providing birth parent counseling servicesOffers compassionate, respectful, and confidential counseling to birth parents considering adoption, delivered through private consultations via phone or in-person meetings.
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Foster Youth Transition Support 2 activities
- Operating the Relationships Are Decisions (RAD!) ProgramSupports older youth in the New York State foster care system with adoption readiness and independent living skills through structured one-on-one mentoring with Future Workers, bi-monthly planning meetings, and cross-jurisdictional continuity of support until stability is achieved.
- Providing lifelong post-adoption supportOffers ongoing relational and advisory support to individuals and families connected with the agency through initiatives such as Beyond Foster Care, alumni programming, and long-term access to counseling and guidance resources.
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Parenting Education and Support Programs 1 activity
- Delivering adoption preparation and training programsProvides structured training curricula for adoptive families, including the Empowered Transition process, enhanced National Training and Development Curriculum (NTDC), and Beyond The Culture retreats to prepare families for foster-to-adopt certification and cultural readiness.
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Organizational Sustainability Management 1 activity
- Preparing grant applications for program fundingConducts grant writing and application development to secure financial support for agency programs and services.
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financials · form 990 · fy2024
revenue
Total revenue$1.78M
Contributions & grants$88K5%
Program service revenue$1.69M95%
Investment income$00%
Other revenue$0
expenses
Total expenses$1.78M
Program expenses91%
Admin / overhead9%
Fundraising0%
Salaries & benefits$1.26M
Grants paid out$0
Largest expense lineCompensation
balance sheet
Total assets$227K
Cash$50K
Investments$0
Liabilities$218K
Net assets$9K
Liquid reserves0.3 mo
5 years on record · 2020–2024 · YoY revenue +18.9%
leadership · form 990 part vii · fy2024
Who runs it
paid leadership · 1
| Name | Title | Hours/wk | Compensation |
|---|---|---|---|
| JACK BRENNAN | Executive Dir. | 40 | $82K |
board members · 14
- DENISE PILGRIM — Vice President
- INES MIYARES — Vice President
- JOEL FRIDOVICH MSW SDA — President
- JUDY BRAMBRUT — BOARD MEMBER
- LINDA SCHWARTZ — Secretary
- LISA S WAGNER — BOARD MEMBER
- MARIAN KENTER-DWYER — BOARD MEMBER
- MEGAN BURGESS — BOARD MEMBER
- MICHELLE CASE — BOARD MEMBER
- PAMELA DEMAN LCSW — BOARD MEMBER
- ROBERT PILGRIM — Treasurer
- SANDRA SALERNO — BOARD MEMBER
- SANDRA VILAR-FERREIRA — BOARD MEMBER
- SARAH HORNSTEIN — BOARD MEMBER
relationships · 14
Who they work with
- Andrus Children’s Center Partner — Employer of a board member serving as Clinical Director, contributing clinical leadership informed by residential child welfare experience.
- Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute Network — Awarded the Angels In Adoption honor in 2003 for extraordinary contribution on behalf of children in need of homes.
- County child welfare agencies Partner — Collaborates with county agencies to enroll children in the RAD! Program and shares meeting reports with county workers to inform case planning.
- Family Focus Board and Staff Partner — Board and staff, many of whom are adoptive parents, collaborate to pioneer best practices in adoption services.
- Human Rights Campaign Partner — Received the All Children-All Families Seal of Recognition in 2010; staff trained to help other agencies achieve cultural competence with LGBTQ+ communities.
- Macy’s, Inc. Partner — Employer of board members involved with Family Focus, indicating potential professional network linkage.
- McMahon Ryan Child Advocacy Center Partner — Professional affiliation of a board member with expertise in trauma-informed foster care and adoption services.
- NY State Government — Partners with New York State to serve older children in the foster care system through the RAD! Program.
- Nassau County Government — Partners with Nassau County to operate the local component of the RAD! (Relationships Are Decisions) program.
- National Training and Development Curriculum (NTDC) Government — Implements the federally mandated NTDC for foster and adoptive families, enhanced with agency-specific content.
- North American Council on Adoptable Children Network — Recognized with activist awards in 1988 and 2002 for contributions to adoption and child welfare.
- Northeast Parent and Child Society (Northern Rivers) Partner — Employer of a board member clinician with extensive experience in child diagnostic evaluations and permanency planning.
- Suffolk County Department of Social Services Partner — Collaborates with Family Focus on planning and placing older children for adoption.
- home counties Partner — Collaborates with home counties to place children enrolled in foster care into adoptive homes
strategies · 5
How they approach the work
Named approaches extracted from this org’s sources. Where others share an approach, follow it to see the full set of orgs running it.
- Child-Led Engagement and Agencymethodology: empowered_transitionBy centering the child’s voice and agency—requiring their consent to participate and allowing them to select and hire their own Future Worker—the organization increases the likelihood of successful, lasting placements, because empowering children in decisions about their care fosters ownership, trust, and engagement in the adoption process.
- Continuity of Relationship Modelmethodology: continuity_of_relationshipBy assigning a dedicated staff member (Future Worker) who remains with a child across all placement changes and over time, the organization builds stable, long-term connections that serve as a foundation for healing and effective decision-making, because consistent relationships foster trust and emotional safety in children with disrupted attachments.
- Family-Trust Standard of Caremethodology: client-centered_adoption_servicesBy designing adoption services according to the standard of care staff would want for their own families, the organization ensures high-quality, trustworthy services, because this personal benchmark drives accountability, empathy, and excellence in service delivery.
- Lived Experience–Informed Practicemethodology: lived_experience_informed_practiceBy integrating the lived experience of adoptive parents, adopted individuals, and child welfare professionals into program design and leadership, the organization ensures services are authentic and responsive, because those with direct experience bring essential insight that improves outcomes and builds credibility with families.
- Relational Healing Through Intentional Relationshipsmethodology: relationship-centered-practiceBy treating relationships as active, intentional decisions rather than passive outcomes, the organization promotes healing and family integration, because deliberate relationship-building fosters emotional security, mutual commitment, and resilience in adoptive families.