Our Story
Uplift was formed by two couples: Victor and Amy Canada, and Todd and Hope Gaudin.
This is our story, from Victor and Amy’s perspective.
In 2013, we learned that a disabled single dad was dying from cancer and he desired to find a family to take care of his children so they wouldn’t have to go into the foster care system. His son and daughter were ages 13 and 11 at the time. After a selection process we became mom and dad to these children. We met and became friends with the adoption attorney who helped us with this process, Todd Gaudin of On Point Legal, LLC. We learned that Todd and his wife, Hope adopted a special needs child. Todd confided in us that he has a passion for helping others through the process, supporting them afterward, and also for the birth parent or parents, who are too often overlooked. He explained some of the obstacles for potential parents: that many couples don’t consider adoption due to fears about the process, costs, and risks.
It broke our hearts to hear Todd tell us how birth parents are typically treated in a demeaning way, instead of being supported for making the difficult and honorable choice of placing their child.
Hearing all of this, and knowing that adoptive families need practical assistance with the unique needs of adopted children, Amy and I wanted to be available to help however we could.
Todd has been an adoption attorney for over 20 years, so he knows there are many non-profit organizations who can meet these needs. What he saw was that each had a specialty, but many don’t know about the others. He sought a way to network these good resources in a coordinated and meaningful way.
Near the end of 2015, we formed Uplift Adoption Network, Inc., a non-profit which helps to fill these needs and encourage adoption. Uplift provides on-going education and connects families directly with other non-profits in our network, to support and honor all.
We continue to pray for God’s leading and blessing. Would you please pray for us also? And would you please share this information with your contacts to help us get the word out, and connect us with existing organizations that provide a piece of the adoption puzzle? We want to have every organization possible in the database so that we can refer parents where they will get the best support. Thank you!
Our website is still being developed. Please share it liberally. We are also working to schedule speaking engagements to share our story and present Uplift Adoption Network; if you know of a church or civic organization that might want to host us, please pass on our contact information.