About Spence-Chapin

Spence-Chapin Services to Families and Children is a non-profit organization that has been providing adoption and adoption support services for over a century. The Spence-Chapin Way is to provide guidance and support to children, women, and families throughout all our program areas.

How To Adopt

Begin your adoption journey with confidence and ease. Our expert team of professionals will guide you every step of the way, from home study to placement, and everything in between.

I'm Pregnant

If you or someone you know is facing an unplanned pregnancy and don’t know where to turn, Spence-Chapin can help. Our caring and compassionate experts will talk you through all of your options. We offer free, unbiased, and confidential counseling and community resources for expectant parents.

ADOPTION SUPPORT

From coaching and counseling to events, and more, our Pre & Post Adoption Services are there for you and your family.

Therapy

Spence-Chapin provides a nonjudgmental space for individuals, couples, children, and families to feel heard and supported while working on challenging with relationships or improving family interactions. We tailor our approach to meet your needs, providing a blend of behavioral and relational therapy to best support you and affect positive change.

Waiting Children

Visit our waiting child page to learn more about children currently awaiting their forever families.

Community Programming

Come join a great community of individuals, children, and families connected to adoption! From toddler playgroups to identity workshops to mentorship and adult support groups, our team of dedicated caring professionals is there to help guide you at every life stage and connect you to a supportive community.  

Supporting Vulnerable Children

Spence-Chapin is committed to the welfare of children and families. For more than 25 years, Spence-Chapin has been ensuring for the care and support of vulnerable children through our Granny and Special Needs Adoption Programs. In recent years, Spence-Chapin has added  our Project Play initiative, Holiday Angels Program, and other humanitarian aid efforts during the pandemic and beyond to best support children and families around the world. Made possible by the generosity of our supporters, each program uniquely provides for the needs of children and families in challenging circumstances. 

Spence-Chapin Gala 2023 Highlights

Check out highlights from the Spece-Chapin Gala and witness the incredible support that fuels our mission to empower individuals and strengthen families. The Gala was an incredible success, raising funds for adoption and family services while celebrating the theme of Embrace. We were honored to have over 200 advocates, supporters, and leaders join us at the stunning Tribeca Rooftop. Learn more about our honorees, speakers, and sponsors, and see photos on our Gala website! Thank you to all who attended and supported our mission to empower individuals and strengthen families. Together, we embrace a brighter future for children and families in need. 

gala 2023 social media

Spence-Chapin 2023 Gala

Thank you to all who supported and attended our event to make it such a special evening! On Thursday, June 1st, Spence-Chapin held our 2023 Gala at the beautiful Tribeca Rooftop with more than 225 guests in attendance. We are appreciative to our special performers, guest speakers, honorees, and all of our international partners and guests in the audience who helped us raise money to fund all of the programs and services we provide throughout the year. 

Please check out our photos (more to come soon!) and videos of the evening, and if you did not get a chance to contribute, there is still time. Thank you!

OUR HEADQUARTERS has moved

Spence-Chapin in Union Square

Spence-Chapin is excited to announce that our headquarters has moved to a new location! Our new home is located at 120 East 16th Street, 11th floor, New York, NY 10003

Centrally situated in the heart of Irving Place in Union Square—a district with as rich and vibrant a history as our own—our new headquarters will be more accessible to the children, women, and families we serve. It will provide us with the space to host a variety of new and exciting community events and programs, to offer our wide range of therapy and counseling services to meet different needs and ages, and to continue to connect families through adoption.  

Once the dust has settled, we will invite everyone in the Spence-Chapin Family to visit our new headquarters during our Space to Grow Launch Party in March of 2023, with more details forthcoming. In the meantime, we will be updating our Space to Grow: New Headquarters page on our website with photos and videos of the new location. We can’t wait to show you around! 

MarthaPhoto

A TRibute To Martha Heck Ulman

Spence-Chapin honors the memory of Martha Heck Ulman, granddaughter of Spence-Chapin Co-Founder, Clara Spence, and Spence-Chapin Honorary Board Member. Please read our tribute to Mrs. Ulman, written by our Chief Executive Officer, Kate Trambitskaya. 

Every Step of the way

This film, Every Step of the Way, premiered at the Spence-Chapin 2022 Gala and chronicles the adoption journey of a family from the moment the birth mother meets with adoptive parents, to the adoptee’s high school graduation. Every step of the way, Spence-Chapin was there to offer support through our counseling services, community programming, and more. This film depicts just one journey, but represents the unique journeys of so many individuals and families who are connected through adoption. 

Catherine PrincessAlice Granny2 Crop

Spence-Chapin Team heads to South Africa to visit partners

This April, a Spence-Chapin team headed down to South Africa for the first time since 2019 to visit with our partners, meet with the dedicated Grannies of the Granny Program and the incredible children they care for throughout four orphanges in Johannesburg, and to spend time with the seven Spence-Chapin families who are currently in-country and recently finalized their adoptions. Visit the Granny Program page to learn more about this program and the impact it is having on more than 180 children around the world, and check out our Instagram for more updates on our trip! 

spence podcast

Check out our new Podcast

Spence-Chapin is excited to announce the launch of a brand new podcast about all things adoption—Adoption Talk by Spence-Chapin!

There are many voices that make up the adoption constellation. This podcast aims to hear from all of them because each voice brings an important perspective and story about adoption. 

Twice a month, this podcast brings you conversations with adoptees, birth parents, adoptive families, adoption professionals and health and social service experts as they share their experiences and discuss all things adoption . Let’s get started.

Upcoming Events

To see all upcoming events at Spence-Chapin, please view our events calendar

Apr

6

Bagels & Blox and Play Café

Date: Saturday, April 6 Times: 10:00am – 12:00pm Location: Spence-Chapin

Apr

9

Adoption Pathways Information Night at Spence-Chapin

Date: Tuesday, April 9 Times: 06:00pm – 08:00pm Location: Spence-Chapin

Jun

11

Spence-Chapin Golf Classic

Date: Tuesday, June 11 Times: 10:00am – 07:00pm Location:
HRC Seal 2021

Spence-Chapin is a proud recipient of the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s “All Children – All Families” Innovator in LGBTQ Inclusion seal of recognition for 2021. Spence-Chapin is committed to equality in adoption and is proud of the many children we have placed in loving, stable, same-sex households. Find out more about our adoption pathways for LGBTQ+ families!

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