International (MNN) — Buckner Children
and Family Services announced today it will affiliate with Dillon
International, Incorporated.
It's all about working smarter
and not harder when it comes to meeting the needs of children around the
world.
Dillion International's Executive Director Deniese Dillon says,
"Both entities are working together to further more adoption services for
more families. We can provide more opportunities for adoption to take
place domestically and internationally by combining forces."
Effective January 1, the
affiliation calls for existing Buckner Adoption and Maternity Services'
international and domestic adoption programs to join Dillon's program and
operate with the Dillon name. It is bringing
together Buckner's international and domestic adoption programs with Dillon's
international adoption, post-adoption programs, and humanitarian services.
Notes
Dillon, who co-founded the agency with her husband, Jerry, "We've had close
ties to Buckner and their leadership for many years. Their mission to help
orphans and under-served children on a global scale has also been our mission
and heart since we started our ministry."
Buckner
International President and CEO Kenneth L. Hall said the joining of the two
entities "marries Dillon's outstanding reputation in the international
adoption field with Buckner International's global
reputation for humanitarian aid work among orphans and at-risk children. Together, we will be able to serve children
and families in so many ways."
Changes that are coming are
played off each other's strengths and reputations. That means the groups can cast a wider net
when it comes to ministry. Dillon explains that, through their work, "We
are the presence of Christ–it may be the only connection that a person will
have to understand who Christ is. So sometimes just the 'being and doing'
is being the salt and light."
Buckner, founded in 1879 in Dallas,
recorded its first adoption in 1884 and has placed more than 4,000 children in
homes through adoption.
The agency began offering
international adoption services in 1995 for families in all 50 states and
currently offers adoption services in Russia,
China and Ethiopia.
Buckner also has a comprehensive domestic adoption program for families living
in Texas that
includes domestic infant adoption, foster-to-adopt, post-adoption services,
birthparent services and adoptions of state-placed children.
Dillon International, Inc. is a
licensed, not-for-profit child placement agency that has specialized in
international adoption since 1972.
Originally founded to meet the needs of South Korean orphans, the agency
has since expanded to include adoption and humanitarian aid services in India,
Guatemala, Haiti, China, Ukraine, Vietnam, and Ethiopia, serving families from
offices in St. Louis, Mo.; Tustin, Calif.; Little Rock and Fayetteville, Ark.;
Richmond, Ind; Kansas City, Kans.; and the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex. The agency, which has placed more than 5,500
children, also has volunteer adoptive families across the United
States who act as agency information and
resource representatives to families.
