Dear Buckner Families,
We want to inform you about some very positive news and plans for our Buckner adoption program.
Effective January 1, 2009, Buckner is entering into an affiliation with Tulsa-based Dillon International. We are pleased to tell you that this affiliation will allow us to significantly grow our adoption programs. This agreement, which has been in process, is being officially approved Friday, November 21 by the Buckner Board of Trustees and we wanted you to be among the first to know.
Deniese Dillon will serve as Vice President of this newly organized adoption program under Buckner Children and Family Services. Deniese has worked in the adoption field as Executive Director of Dillon International for more than 30 years. She is passionate about advocating for the lives of children and building families through adoption.
It is our prayer and hope that more children and families will ultimately be served through the blessing of adoption in this joining together of these two Christian adoption agencies.
This affiliation will bring the strengths and experiences of both adoption agencies and will set us apart as a leader of excellence in domestic and international adoption practice.
Both Buckner and Dillon are Christian, like-minded agencies in our practice and core values. We are both Hague Accredited and uphold the highest of ethics and standards of practice in all our work on behalf of children and families.
Buckner brings more than 100 years of experience in domestic adoption and more than 13 years of experience in international adoption, including advocacy for older child and special needs adoption, and global humanitarian programs. We have also maintained a strong connection with our birthparents throughout our history, which will continue going forward.
Dillon brings more than 30 years of international adoption experience, advocacy for special needs adoption, global humanitarian support and a national presence, being licensed in six states. Dillon currently works in India, Guatemala, Haiti, China, Ukraine, and Vietnam, and they have adopted hundreds of children from other countries through the years, including Korea. Dillon has placed more than 5,500 children since it was founded in 1972.
We want to assure every Buckner and Dillon family that our care and attention to all of our families is the priority, even in a transition process of these two agencies coming together. We will be sure to tend to the needs of each family and we hope to ultimately enhance how we serve families through this reorganization.
Please be assured that the assigned professional staff member who has been working on your behalf will still be your advocate and voice in building your family and that your adoption process and services will continue as planned.
It is our prayer that this coming together of two adoption agencies will enable us to provide more family-building options for prospective families who choose to work with Buckner and Dillon and strengthen our post-adoption services as we seek to be a support to families for a lifetime.
Please contact us if you have any questions about this organizational change. We wanted to be sure to contact you first before a press release makes this news public.
We look forward to sharing with you more about this wonderful opportunity for our adoption program over the months ahead.
Blessings,
Albert L. Reyes
President, Buckner Children and Family Services
Debbie Wynne
Director, Buckner Adoption and Maternity Services
(214) 319-3458
