Adoption Exchange Gets New Name: ‘Raise The Future’

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – Wednesday’s Child introduces you to some of the wonderful children in foster care who are needing homes.

The local organization that partners with KSL to help make those connections is The Adoption Exchange.

Now, this local organization is getting a new name and a new look.

The Adoption Exchange is now Raise the Future.

Raise the Future’s Linsday Keading joined KSL to discuss the new name.

She said when The Adoption Exchange was founded 37 years ago, the needs of the community were much different than they are today.

“We have evolved and changed to meet those needs over the years,” she said. “We now serve children who are older who are still in foster care. Our primary goal is to still find them permanency and love and stability, but also to really support those families and support those placements so that those connections and those relationships can continue to grow.”

Keading said Raise the Future’s focuses on helping ensure the kids don’t get sent back into the foster system.

The organization’s mission remains the same, even amid the name change.

“The word ‘adoption’ itself, it can be very triggering and very hurtful to a lot of kids and a lot of families that have gone through so much in their past,” Keading said. “We didn’t want to hurt them more by using that word in the title of our organization.”

She noted that there are multiple ways to help the organization besides adopting a child, and one of the best ways is by spreading the word that these kids in foster care need forever families.

“They need homes, whether they’re 2 years old or they’re 21 years old, they still need a family for the rest of their lives,” Keading said.

For more information, contact Raise the Future at 801-265-0444 or go to raisethefuture.org.