In Washington, D.C. at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, Congressman Tom Price selected Rachel M. Ewald as a 2009 Angel in Adoption for her outstanding advocacy of foster care issues. The Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute (CCAI), which orchestrates the Angels in Adoption program, will honor Rachel Ewald along with more than 190 Angels at an awards ceremony and gala event in Washington, DC, September 30, 2009.

Rachel Ewald is being honored for her work in the creation of The Foster Care Support Foundation, which serves 3500 to 4000 foster children annually throughout the State of Georgia by giving them free clothing, developmental/educational toys and books along with safe infant care equipment. Starting in her garage in 1996, she brought the Foundation to where it is today by forming coalitions with community based volunteers, faith based communities, civic and corporate groups interested in helping children within the invisibility of foster care. She received numerous non-financially benefitting awards such as the Beacon of Light from the Department of Family and Children’s services, the 2003 Commissioners Award from the State of Georgia and most recently, the prestigious Nationally known Ruth Massinga award from the Casey Family Foundation in 2009. With that said, she and her husband, while raising 4 biological children took in and cared for over 50 long term foster children over the last 21 years. Guiding and watching children heal from their traumatic experiences of abuse, neglect and deprivation made her realize that many stable families wanting to foster a needy child couldn’t do so because of the high financial demand on the family when caring for extra children on the State’s reimbursement only $14 to $18.80 per day.

Her experience of traumatized children being moved out of their home too quickly into adoptive homes without proper transition visits helped her write and publish a minimum guide for transitioning children out of foster care into adoptive homes in hopes of diminishing the approximately 7,000 disrupted adoptions throughout the nation each year.

She recently directed the move of the foundation to a lease purchase of a 20,000 sq. ft. building and is looking for funding support to purchase it so that funds can then be diverted to more services for foster children instead of rent. It is her belief that if a foster child feels love and acceptance while in foster care, there will be a better chance at a successful adoption and a more well-rounded adulthood later on after aging out of the system. She created the Prom-a-Palooza, an event where foster teens from all over the state in high school can choose free prom dresses, accessories, jewelry and make up with consultation so that they can attend their own high school proms with their own friends.

Her dreams are to have a Saturday tutoring school and computer camps for teens to help them improve the low graduation rate. After securing the Georgia-based program with proper funding, Rachel would like to eventually embark on starting Foster Care Support Foundations in other states needing support for their foster children, but with the same successful and unique strategy that helped this Georgia based charity succeed.

The Angels in Adoption program is CCAI’s signature public awareness campaign and it provides an opportunity for all members of the U.S. Congress to honor the good work of their constituents who have enriched the lives of foster children and orphans in the United States and abroad.

“The Angels in Adoption program is unlike any other program in the Nation’s Capitol. Because of it, over 1400 “Angels’ have come to share with Washington their adoption experience and left with a renewed excitement of all that adoption makes possible,” said Kathleen Strottman. “I learned one simple lesson from my time on the Hill, knowledge is power. Angels in Adoption is meant to give Members of Congress the knowledge they need to use the power they have toward making the dream of a family a reality for every child.”

In addition to the more than 190 local angels from around the country, several National Angels will also be recognized at the ceremony and gala for their dedication and commitment nationally and internationally to child welfare on a grand scale. Former “National Angels” include First Lady Laura Bush, Patti LaBelle, Jane Seymour, Muhammad Ali, the late Dave Thomas, Steven Curtis Chapman, Bruce Willis, Alonzo Mourning, and Marcus Samuelsson.

The Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute (CCAI) is a 501(c)3 nonpartisan organization dedicated to raising awareness about the tens of thousands of orphans and foster children in the United States and the millions of orphans around the world in need of permanent, safe, and loving homes through adoption. CCAI’s goal is the elimination of the barriers that hinder these children from realizing their basic right of a family.

CCAI was created in 2001 by the active co-chairs of the bicameral, bipartisan Congressional Coalition on Adoption (CCA) to more effectively raise Congressional and public awareness about the issue of adoption.

The Angels in Adoption program was established in 1999 as a Congressional press conference to honor outstanding individuals. Since then, the program has developed into a year long public awareness campaign culminating in an extraordinary awards gala and celebration in Washington, D.C.

CCAI does not receive any government funding and they rely on the generous support of foundations, corporations, and individuals to accomplish their mission. For more information visit http://www.ccainstitute.org/