Application for Assistance
On Your Feet Foundation provides two basic types of assistance:
- Mentoring/Community Support: this includes retreats and functions throughout the year;
- Case Management & Grants Program: this encompasses assistance in establishing and supporting educational and career goals, budget planning and counseling.
Who Can Receive Assistance from On Your Feet Foundation?
- Case management/community support is available to any birthparent in an open or closed adoption, in any state, and placed at any time.
- Financial assistance is available to those who meet the following criteria:
- Reside in, or placed a child who resides in Illinois or Indiana.
- Retreat participants are eligible for grants to attend retreats and for post-retreat counseling regardless of state/country of residence. Currently, our retreats are only offered to birthmothers.
- Demonstrate financial or emotional need
- Supporting documentation may be requested
- Present a realistic plan for self-sufficiency and personal growth
- Demonstrate thoughtful consideration of financial needs and opportunities
- Seek opportunities for supports available through educational institutions and other resources
- Set goals that are realistic and attainable to move continually toward self-sufficiency
- Establish a reasonable time frame and request appropriate support over time in their application
Who can apply to On Your Feet Foundation?
To maintain privacy, referrals to “On Your Feet Foundation” must be from:
- The applicant
- An adoption agency
- The applicant’s parent or legal guardian
- An adoption attorney
What Type of Assistance Do You Provide?
- All birthparents enrolled in the program will have a case manager working to network services and find strategies that are long-term and comprehensive.
- Financial assistance may be provided for school and school-related expenses, interim housing expenses, job counseling and job search-related expenses, interim job-related expenses, such as transportation or child care, and short-term counseling.
- Applicants are encouraged to identify other needs in addition to the above for consideration by the On Your Feet Foundation. The list above is an example of the types of assistance that will be considered, but you may have a unique need that will be considered.
Are There Any Types of Requests You Do Not Grant?
- Funds are not intended for crisis or emergency assistance including emergency rent, past due bills/old debt or car repairs/purchases.
- Funds may not be used for expenses related to pregnancy or adoption.
- Funds are not intended to replace funds from ongoing programs such as Medicaid, Section 8 housing assistance, food stamps, or scholarships, but rather to be an interim or supplemental source of assistance to birth parents.
- On Your Feet may choose to deny grant requests that involve tuition being paid to for-profit institutions.
How Much Assistance Do You Provide?
- Grants are evaluated on a case-by-case basis. The average grant award is <$1,000.
How Are Assistance Decisions Made?
- On Your Feet Foundation makes decisions based on the financial and emotional needs of the birthparent applicants.
- The Foundation reviews a completed application and awards grants on an as-needed basis.
How Long Does It Take To Get Assistance?
- Applicants will be notified within two weeks of submitting a completed application and having an interview with a case manager from On Your Feet Foundation.
Who Receives the Funds?
- Similar to adoption assistance, funds will be disbursed to the organization actually providing the services to you. For example, test-taking fees would be sent on your behalf by On Your Feet Foundation to the test provider; GED fees would be remitted on your behalf to the institution.
Where do I return the application when completed?
- Applications can be completed on our website. If you are unable to complete the application online, please contact one of our case managers:
- Jennifer at 773-273-9645 for Illinois
- Julia at 317-502-0996 for Indiana
- Jessica at 773-677-7122 for Wisconsin
