A century-old nonprofit adoption organization is bringing its operations to Tucson.
Spence-Chapin has been facilitating adoptions and providing supportive services to biological parents, adoptive parents and adopted people in New York and New Jersey for 110 years but is now expanding its services to Arizona.
“Recently, in 2023, we were in a great position to be able to expand our services to a new state, and we became licensed in Arizona,” said Monica Baker, senior director for domestic programs.
Baker said that one of the agency’s primary objectives is to provide options and counseling to expectant parents and biological parents.
“For biological parents, it’s really important that they have unbiased options counseling, and that it’s not counseling that’s focused on only adoption,” Baker said. “We want to help them sift through all of their options and connect with resources and make a really well informed and supported decision.”
The other component, Baker said, is offering education, support and home study services to adoptive families.
“An adoption can be a really complex process, and that has a lifelong impact on multiple people,” Baker said. “We know that a lot goes into parenting in general but there are some special layers to adoptive parenting, and we help give families the tools they need to be as prepared as they can for that journey.”
Part of those offerings include ongoing counseling and support for adopted people, adoptive parents and biological parents.
The decision to expand into Arizona was based on a perceived need for more adoption resources within the state, Baker said.
“We did a research study within our organization of all 50 states and we looked at factors such as presence of other adoption agencies and other adoption professionals in the area, and we identified Arizona as a state that there was a need for for more adoption providers,” Baker said. “There are attorneys that provide adoption services in Arizona, but agency wise there seem to be not as many as in other parts of the country,”
In particular, she said that there was a need for adoption providers that are affirming of all identities and work with families of all different religions, backgrounds and family makeups.
“We want to be an agency where LGBTQ+ families can come and grow their family and have their home completed through our agency,” Baker said.
The agency plans to quickly expand into Phoenix and to eventually bring their services to the entire state, said Linda Alexandre, who oversees Spence-Chapin’s domestic programs.
“We’re really excited about being in Arizona,” she said. “This feels like a place where we can have a real impact.”
