Amara was one of the first organizations in the country to coordinate transracial adoptions and prioritize training and support for foster parents and adoptive parents to nurture a child’s cultural and racial identity different from their own.  They are also one of the first child welfare organizations in the country to work with LGBTQIA+ couples and individuals, and single parents. Amara leads the field with innovative approaches to inclusion and has several programs, resources, and initiatives to change the world when it comes to how we support and care for children, adults, and families experiencing foster care and considering adoption, in our communities. 

QLaw is proudly an organization that is run by, for, and about LGBTQ2S+ communities, grounded in and accountable to community relationships, centering the inherent wisdom our communities hold, and working for racial justice.

QLaw offers a wide range of services to LGBTQ2S+ communities in Washington, including direct legal services, trainings, consulting, advocacy, litigation support, amicus work, and impact ligitation. They have a family law clinic, and offer pro bono consultation.

The QLaw Foundation also has a packet with forms and instructions for families to use so that they can do their second parent adoption pro se (without counsel).

QLaw Association is an association of LGBTQ+ legal professionals and their friends and serves as a voice of LGBTQ+ lawyers and other legal professionals in the State of Washington on issues relating to diversity and equality in the legal profession, in the courts, and under the law.  

A Fellow of the Academy of Adoption and Assisted Reproduction Attorneys, and  a member of the experienced adoption and estate planning team of Albert Lirhus and John Keckemet. Her practice includes all aspects of adoption, including complex situations involving the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), interstate placements requiring compliance with the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children (ICPC), step-parent, second-parent (and even third-parent) adoptions, contested adoptions, and finalization of international and domestic agency adoptions. Janna frequently consults with parents hoping to adopt their foster child from the Department of Children, Youth and Families, and also represent birthparents who have placed or are considering placing a child for adoption. 

The Y of Greater Seattle has been licensing and supporting foster parents and providing individualized support to children and youth in foster care for almost 35 years. You can be a part of our community by providing children in foster care a loving temporary home, where each child can heal at their own pace and is celebrated for their unique gifts, with the ultimate goal to reunify children and families.

The YMCA’s foster care program proudly welcomes LGBTQIA+ families and BIPOC families, and strives to be inclusive. We are on a collective journey as staff, volunteers, interns, and foster families to become an anti-racist and affirming organization, and are committed to continued growth and learning.

ACRS promotes social justice and the well-being and empowerment of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and other underserved communities – including immigrants, refugees, and American-born – by developing, providing and advocating for innovative, effective and efficient community-based multilingual and multicultural services. 

Connecting LGBTQ+ families with attorneys and fertility specialists all over the US and Canada to make it easy to start, expand, and protect your family. Experts are all selected for their knowledge, advocacy, and compassion, so you can feel comfortable starting these – sometimes challenging – conversations in a welcoming, judgment-free environment. Connecting Rainbows also has a dynamic, ever-growing library of resources, interviews, and blogs to help you understand and navigate these complicated and important topics. Because being a member of the LGBTQ+ community comes with enough hurdles – keeping your family together and safe shouldn’t be one of them. 

The Academy of Adoption and Assisted Reproduction Attorneys (AAAA) is an organization of nearly 500 highly vetted attorneys dedicated to the competent and ethical practice of adoption and assisted reproduction law.

Includes a directory of LGBTQ+-friendly attorneys.

A local adoption resource – not LGBTQ-specific, but including a robust LGBTQ+ membership. According to Janna Annest “a group that every adoptive family in the greater Seattle area should know about.” 

AFFGS was formed in 1997 by several families built through adoption who recognized a need for more support and unity through the adoption process and beyond. They are a nonprofit support and educational group that includes both families touched by adoption and families waiting to adopt. They embrace all ethnic, racial, and socio-economic backgrounds as well as all types of adoptions. 

The Every Child Deserves a Family Campaign promotes the best interests of all children in the foster care and adoption system by supporting families of origin, by promoting family acceptance of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning and Two Spirit children (LGBTQ+2S), and by increasing the access of all children to affirming, loving and stable homes.