Program areas at The Cradle
Adoption & Family Support: Cradle staff provide emotional support and options counseling for expectant parents free of charge, as well as lifelong emotional and educational support services for birth parents, adoptive families, and adopted individuals. In FY2022, trained Cradle counselors responded to 180 Helpline inquiries from expectant parents, received 99 expectant-parent referrals from professionals, wrote 32 home studies for prospective adoptive parents, provided 300 adoption-competent counseling sessions, provided 119 post-adoption consultations, and wrote 39 post adoption background reports.
Nursery and Special Needs Infant Care: The Cradle is the only adoption agency in the U.S. with an on-site Nursery-a safe, neutral place for infants to stay while their parents take time to decide if adoption will be the plan for their child. This is available at no cost, regardless of the parents' decision. Staffed with experienced licensed nurses and infant aides, the Nursery provides quality care to all infants entrusted to The Cradle and is licensed to care for up to 20 infants at a time. In FY22, 37 infants received 1105 nights of care in our Nursery, and 26 infants were placed into their permanent homes.
Education & Engagement: The Cradle hosts webinars, courses, and workshops to help families increase their understanding of the joys and challenges of adoption and parenting. In FY22, The Cradle received 16, 216 enrollments for interactive, adoption-related courses and webinars. The Cradle also provides outreach and adoption education to Illinois-based clinic and hospital professionals who work with expectant parents. In FY22, we awarded 28 CE/CU credits following in-service presentations.