Diakon Adoption & Foster Care

Changing the world for waiting children is what Diakon Adoption & Foster Care is all about. We are dedicated to bringing permanency to the lives of children in need. From special needs and domestic adoption to multiple levels of foster care and legal-risk placements (foster-to-adopt), we offer a range of services designed to unite children with forever families.

A new name … a long history.

While the name Diakon Adoption & Foster Care may be new, our tradition of serving children in need certainly isn't. In fact, our adoption program has been finding permanent adoptive homes for children with special needs for more than 33 years! And our foster care program was created just as long ago to meet the needs of children and youths transitioning to community living from institutional placements.

Diakon Adoption Services was formed through the Jan. 1, 2000, affiliation that created Diakon Lutheran Social Ministries. Both agencies that created Diakon—Tressler Lutheran Services and Lutheran Services Northeast—had long and storied histories of service to children dating to the late 1800s. While both Tressler and The Lutheran Home at Topton began as orphans home, they expanded services over the years so that, by the early 1970s, both had begun adoption programs. Foster care services began around the same time.

Pioneering the adoptive placement of children with special needs, Tressler Adoption Services became a national model for its use of adoptive parents in training prospective parents. The Lutheran Home at Topton became known as an advocate for children with special needs. Over the years, both organizations excelled in serving children and youths.

In 2005, Diakon’s adoption and foster care services were combined into Diakon Adoption & Foster Care to create a unified effort to bring permanency to the lives of ever-more waiting children.