Boys & Girls Aid Merges with Open Adoption

Boys & Girls Aid, Oregon’s first and longest-running child welfare agency, is proud to announce that it has finalized a merger with Open Adoption & Family Services, one of the Pacific Northwest’s leading providers of all-options pregnancy counseling and child-centered open adoption services. 

Boys & Girls Aid has partnered with Open Adoption & Family Services since the organization’s founding in 1985, collaborating on adoption placements for children up to the age of three and serving together on professional committees to advance best practices in adoption. Through this merger, the two agencies will combine their expertise and streamline services to better meet the evolving needs of adoptees, expectant parents, birth parents, and families across our community. 

The timing of the merger aligns with the departure of Open Adoption & Family Services’ Executive Director, Suzie Williams, who announced her plans to retire in August of this year. 

“Serving Open Adoption & Family Services — and the people at its center — for more than three decades has been the honor of a lifetime. It is abundantly clear that the services we offer are both unique and deeply needed, and I’m incredibly proud of our work and the impact we’ve had on the communities we serve,” said Williams. “I’m grateful we have found a trusted partner to carry our mission forward. Open Adoption & Family Services is in good hands and will be well supported by the excellent leadership team at Boys & Girls Aid.” 

Open Adoption & Family Services was established four decades ago with a mission to promote openness in adoption. The organization joins Boys & Girls Aid’s infant adoption program, which has been a leading provider of infant adoptions and pregnancy support services for more than 80 years. The program will continue under the name “Open Adoption & Family Services, a program of Boys & Girls Aid,” where it will carry forward the aligned approach and values of the two organizations. Key members of the Open Adoption & Family Services team will remain in place, working alongside Boys & Girls Aid’s leadership to ensure a smooth transition and uninterrupted support for clients and waiting families. 

“For more than 140 years, Boys & Girls Aid has been committed to ensuring children find permanent, loving families and lifelong stability. The merger with Open Adoption & Family Services reflects this mission and represents a dedicated path forward for our infant adoption and all-options counseling services,” says Andrea Logan Sanders, President & CEO at Boys & Girls Aid. “Our agencies have worked collaboratively since OAFS opened in 1985 and are philosophically aligned in our beliefs around centering the adoptee and promoting openness, inclusivity, and reproductive choice. We are honored to have the opportunity to carry forward the exceptional work that has been done by Open Adoption & Family Services and to weave it into the fabric of Boys & Girls Aid.” 

With this merger, Boys & Girls Aid is poised to strengthen its role as a highly respected provider and leading voice in shaping the ongoing evolution of adoption services, ensuring adoptees, expectant parents, birth parents, and families receive compassionate, high-quality support for decades to come.