72c Centennial Loop, Suite 100,
Eugene OR 97401
Phone: 541-343-2856
Fax: 541-393-9795
Email: info@affec.org
© 2025 A Family for Every Child
Policy: A Family for Every Child (AFFEC) values, promotes, and celebrates the diversity of the children, families, and community members we serve. AFFEC is committed to creating and maintaining an affirming environment supportive of equal opportunities and access to services for all persons, regardless of race, color, religion, sex, age, perceived or actual sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression, marital status, national origin, disability, and all other protected classes.
AFFEC actively recruits participants that reflect the racial and ethnic diversity of the children we serve. A prospective participant’s race, color, or national origin will not be used as a basis for denial or approval of services.
Derogatory, harmful, or non-affirming action or communication is expressly prohibited.
Procedure:
AFFEC maintains partnerships with applicable community resources to ensure its programs, policies, and procedures are inclusive and represent the needs of the communities it serves.
AFFEC reviews all internal documents bi-annually and all internal documents annually to ensure they are in line with the evolving needs of the communities it serves.
Program participation requires all volunteers, interns, and prospective families actively work to establish and maintain an affirming environment for all persons. Continued violation, or a single violation of sufficient severity, of this policy is reason for expulsion from the agency’s programs.
AFFEC provides an inclusive environment that accommodates and supports the unique needs of individuals with mental and physical disabilities, both visible and invisible. We celebrate neurodivergence and believe in promoting all kinds of accessibility and affirming each person’s unique abilities and identity.
AFFEC is proud to serve youth and families from diverse national origins. We celebrate the cultural background of all our community members, ensuring that services and programs are inclusive and accessible to all, regardless of nation or culture of origin.
AFFEC champions youth voice and is committed to centering agency decisions around the valid experiences and perspectives of the youth we serve. AFFEC combats ageism and adultism by ensuring all voices are heard and considered for their unique contributions, recognizing that the lived experiences of people of all ages are equally valuable.
AFFEC respects and honors the diverse faiths and spiritual practices of the youth and families we serve, encouraging an inclusive environment where all spiritual identities are valued and celebrated.
AFFEC recognizes the unique challenges faced by individuals from various socioeconomic backgrounds and strives to counter systemic inequity by providing equitable access to services and support specific to the needs and barriers faced by each individual person and family.
AFFEC ensures that all programs and services respect and affirm the full range of gender identities and expressions of all people to create a welcoming environment for all individuals to express their authentic selves. Through training, resources, and relationships with affirming community partners, AFFEC ensures all families and participants are appropriately equipped with comprehensive resources and trainings to respect and affirm diverse gender identities and expressions.
AFFEC supports all developing, established, and fluid sexual orientations and identities by providing affirming caregivers, creating safe spaces, implementing best practices across all AFFEC programs and partnerships, and fostering an environment where LGBTQIA2S+ identities are understood, acknowledged, and respected.
AFFEC actively recruits participants that reflect the racial and ethnic diversity of the children we serve, ensuring that all races and ethnicities are represented and celebrated within our community.
A Family for Every Child (AFFEC) believes all youth, regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression, deserve a permanent and loving family who acknowledges and affirms their identity. Affirming a youth’s identity means caregivers help the youth develop positive feelings about their identity, support the youth’s sense of belonging to their identified social groups, and ensure the youth has clear caregiver acceptance.
AFFEC recognizes LGBTQ+ youth are disproportionately represented in foster care and the houseless youth community. The Human Rights Campaign’s most recent youth survey indicates LBGTQ+ youth make up over a third of the almost 400,000 youth in foster care (HRC, 2023). Additionally, LGBTQ+ youth are twice as likely to be unhoused when compared to their peers and make up more than 40% of the unhoused youth population (McKinnon et al., 2023). We are committed to prioritizing youth needs and characteristics in adoptive and host home recruitment efforts and service development.
The CDC reports suicide is the second leading cause of death for youth ages 10-24. Suicide for this age group increased 52% between 2000-2021 (CDC, 2023, HRC 2023) and youth who identify as LGBTQ+ are five times more likely than their heterosexual peers to commit suicide (Gaylor et al., 2023). However, the presence of an affirming caregiver in a youth’s life reduces the likelihood of suicide by 57% (Price et al., 2023). Family acceptance saves youth’s lives. AFFEC is dedicated to changing these statistics by supporting affirming families as they care for our diverse community of children.
A Family for Every Child believes that a family’s willingness to affirm a youth’s identity is a key component of their eligibility to participate in our adoptive and host home services. AFFEC is committed to recruiting, training, and supporting prospective families who are prepared to honor and affirm the identities of the youth we serve.
Price, M., Green, A. (2023). Association of Gender Identity Acceptance with Fewer Suicide Attempts Among Transgender and Nonbinary Youth. Transgender Health, 8(1). https://doi.org/10.1089/trgh.2021.0079
HRC. (2023, June 2). View and Share Statistics. The Human Rights Campaign. https://www.hrc.org/view-and-share-statistics
CDC. (2023, June 2). Disparities in Suicide. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/suicide/facts/disparities-in-suicide.html
Gaylor, E., Krause, K., Welder, L., Cooper, A., Ashley, C., Mack, K., Crosby, A., Trinh, E., Ivey-Stephenson, I., Whittle, L. (2023). Suicidal Thoughts and Behaviors Among High School Students: Youth Risk Behavior Survey, United States, 2021. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. 72(1);45–54. https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/72/su/su7201a6.htm?s_cid=su7201a6_w
McKinnon, I., Krause, K., Robin, L., King, A., Leon-Nguyen, M., Zavala, E., Suarez, N., Lim, C., Smith-Grant, J., Underwood, M. (2023). Experiences of Unstable Housing Among High School Students: Youth Risk Behavior Survey, United States, 2021. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. 72(1);29–36
https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/72/su/su7201a4.htm?s_cid=su7201a4_w