Nonprofit adoption agency reaches milestone
BY DAN NEWMAN
Staff Writer

HAZLET — The adoption process is never an easy one. Between the paperwork that must be filled out and approved, and then the actual waiting time to get custody of the child, it can feel like an eternity for prospective parents.

But thanks to one local organization, there is a chance for people to build a family through domestic and international adoption.

Adoptions From the Heart (AFTH), a private nonprofit agency, has earned a reputation of improving the overall adoption process.

The agency, which has 12 offices in seven states, including one in Hazlet, is celebrating its 20th anniversary. AFTH has gone from facilitating just 16 adoptions in its first year of operation to almost 500 last year, to go along with a $5 million budget at the end of 20 years.

Maxine Chalker, the founder and executive director of AFTH, started the organization with the intent of making things easier on others than she had it.

“I am an adoptee and I was always anxious to find out where I came from,” Chalker said. “I wanted to try and help others in their quest to find out about themselves.”

Twenty years later, she said that adoptions have become much smoother, both for the adoptees and prospective parents as well.

“It’s different now for adoptees because now they can find out who their birth parents are and try and find out more about where they really came from,” Chalker said.

Another key change in the adoption system has been the makeup of the families themselves.

“The face of the adoption family has evolved,” Chalker said. “Today, adoptive parents can be married, single or in same-sex relationships, and some families are multicultural, adopting children from different racial and cultural backgrounds,” Chalker said.

In the past, many adoptions took place between families and children living in this country. The adoption process has now taken a turn toward branching out into other regions of the world.

“Countries like China and Vietnam are places that have many available adoptees. China is definitely the biggest source, and it has been that way for awhile now,” Chalker said.

“Also, a place like Guatemala is good as well, because it is pretty close to the U.S.,” she said.

As for the future of the adoption process, Chalker thinks that it will continue to revolve around other countries.

“In this country, there is no such thing as an orphanage, where young children are just hanging around and waiting for parents to come by and pick them up,” Chalker said. “In other countries though, this is the norm and as long it is like this, then going to places like Russia and India to find possibilities will continue to be viable options.”