Adoption group changes name to Sierra Forever Families

A local nonprofit is marketing itself a little differently these days. What used to be known as Sierra Adoption Services is, as of July 1, Sierra Forever Families. The name change has been about five years in the making, said Bob Herne, Sierra Forever Families executive director. "Really the name change is to recognize the work we're already doing that the public might not know about," Herne said. "Adoption is a really important piece of what we do, but it's just one piece of what we do. Sierra Forever Families just really tries to encompass all kinds of permanency."While the name has changed, the mission remains the same — finding and nurturing permanent homes, or "forever families," for children. Sierra Forever Families serves 12 counties in Northern California, and has three centers, in Auburn, Nevada City and Sacramento. Sandra Boyd, a Sierra Forever Families social work supervisor who splits her time between the Auburn and Nevada City centers, hopes the name change, and the removal of "adoption" from the nonprofit's title, will expand the number of families who seek their services. "The word "adoption" is there, and they're afraid of it, the families," Boyd said. "People will see us more as the permanence agency. I think it's going to be a change in public perception." Boyd hopes the name change will make clear that the nonprofit aims to do what's best for each child, whether that's reunification with biological parents or placement and, eventually, adoption by what they call "forever families.""I hope this will open more doors for people who see this and think, 'I could do that,'" she said. "'Sierra Adoption Services' hasn't been a good branding for what we've been doing." Sierra Forever Families also recently acquired Wonder Inc., a Sacramento-area one-to-one community based mentoring program in which foster care children are paired with adult mentors so the children will have a familiar face as they go through the foster care system. "Sometimes it's a child's only constant," Herne said. Loryll Nicolaisen can be reached at lorylln@goldcountrymedia.com.