Barker Adoption Foundation

Specialties

The Barker Adoption Foundation, a nonprofit adoption agency licensed in Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia, is built on the fundamental belief that all children deserve safe, loving, and permanent families. The Barker team is passionately dedicated to this vision, and to that end we offer comprehensive, ethical, child-​centered adoption services and lifelong support for birth parents, adoptees, and adoptive parents.

Pregnancy Counseling

Adoption Programs: Domestic Infant, International, Older Child from Foster Care

Post-​Adoption Services

Training & Education for Birth Parents, Adoptive Parents, Adoptees and Professionals

History

Established in 1945.

Ruth and Richard Barker, themselves adoptive parents, founded the agency in Washington, D.C., in 1945 in response to a request from the U.S. Navy Department to address the needs of pregnant WAVES («Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service»). The Barker structure was formalized in 1951 when it was incorporated as the nation’s first cooperative adoption agency. Since then, Barker has evolved from a traditional domestic infant-​placing adoption agency into a highly regarded, comprehensive adoption center.