One Church, One Child Program
Introduction:
Father George Clements founded the One Church, One Child (OCOC) adoption recruitment
initiative in 1989 in Chicago, Illinois. OCOC is a specialized adoption recruitment
program that encourages the religious community to help recruit adoptive parents for
children in the custody of the State. It is a concept that incorporates the leadership
of the religious community with the expertise and resources of adoption agency officials into
a partnership to secure homes for Maryland’s waiting children. Currently, there are
thirty-three (33) OCOC programs across the country and they are nationally recognized for
placing well over 100,000 children with families. OCOC is inclusive of all religious
denominations.
Maryland’s One Church, One Child Program began October 1988 as a direct service program,
which facilitated well over 1, 000 adoption placements. Since 1994, Maryland One Church,
One Child’s focus has been to provide technical assistance and support to local departments of
social services in recruiting adoptive families from the religious community and in developing
strategies to retain adoptive families awaiting the placement of a child. Staff actively participate
in various types of recruitment events and presentations to places of worship identified by the
OCOC Board of Directors or through invitations by places of worship. Partnerships are sought
with faith-based organizations, corporations as well as non-profit organizations to expand the
community’s awareness of the need for adoptive families. In addition, staff has utilized various
types of media -- radio, television and printed media -- to highlight the need for more adoptive
families.
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