WASHINGTON- The Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization, announced today the "All Children - All Families" initiative has been awarded a $25,000 grant by the Freddie Mac Foundation for its new initiative to remove barriers between waiting foster children and loving families headed by qualified GLBT parents. The one-year grant supports the implementation of culturally competent practices in adoption and foster care agencies nationwide.

"We are honored the Freddie Mac Foundation has offered their support of the All Children - All Families initiative," said Ellen Kahn, director of the HRC Foundation's Family Project. "With our National Advisory Board of child welfare experts guiding this work and the new support from the Freddie Mac Foundation, we're confident that agencies will see an increase in the number of motivated, qualified GLBT adoptive parents, which will result in more waiting children being placed with permanent, loving families."

With the strong support of leading child welfare and adoption advocacy organizations, HRC's All Children - All Families initiative will ensure that adoption agencies have the tools to welcome and support families headed by GLBT adults and will educate the GLBT community about foster and adoptive parenting opportunities. The Freddie Mac Foundation award will assist in the implementation of the "Promising Practices" guide, a new tool for adoption agencies recently released by HRC, which offers examples of effective practices for working with GLBT foster and adoptive parents. The guide features sample policies and materials, and also features tips from leaders of welcoming agencies, researchers in the field, and GLBT adoptive and foster parents. The guide also includes an organizational self-assessment to allow agencies to gauge their current policies and practices and receive guidance for improvement.

Created by Freddie Mac in 1991, the Freddie Mac Foundation is dedicated to making home a place where children and families thrive. As the largest corporate funder in the Washington, DC metropolitan area, Freddie Mac and the Freddie Mac Foundation have invested more than $321 million in organizations serving the community. Many of the Foundation's efforts, including the Wednesday's Child television program, are geared toward improving the lives of and finding permanent homes for foster children.

Today there are more than half a million children in the U.S. foster care system, with at least 100,000 awaiting adoption by loving, permanent families. Agencies may purposefully or inadvertently close the door to qualified families through their practices. Few agencies recruit GLBT adoptive & foster parents, and many GLBT people feel unwelcome or discouraged. Similarly, members of the GLBT community may not be aware of the opportunities in domestic adoption and foster care, or they may not know of agencies that welcome their families. "All Children-All Families" will work to ensure that all qualified prospective parents who wish to open their homes and hearts to children and youth have the opportunity to do so, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

Additional information on the "All Children - All Families" initiative and the HRC Foundation Family Project can be found online at www.hrc.org/acaf.

The Human Rights Campaign is America's largest civil rights organization working to achieve gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender equality. By inspiring and engaging all Americans, HRC strives to end discrimination against GLBT citizens and realize a nation that achieves fundamental fairness and equality for all.