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Karen Stager Fund

Building families - MAPS has been doing it for over thirty years. Nothing creates a stronger future or gives a child a better chance for a stable, productive life than a safe home and the love and nurturing that only a parent can provide. Few people have understood this better than Karen Stager, a longtime leader at MAPS and the mother of seven children, three of them adopted, including one with special needs. (She was also stepmother to two.) Karen helped open Russian adoption to Americans and made sure thousands of children here in the US and abroad found permanent loving families.

Karen died of cancer in 2008. But her legacy lives on - in her children, in the memories of the many MAPS families whose adoptions she oversaw, and now in the Karen Stager Fund created to carry on her belief that every child deserves a family to call "my own."

Unfortunately, finding this permanent home is not always easy. Some children have issues that can affect a family's ability to bring them into the fold, with risk factors or needs that require ongoing financial support. Other families are ideal candidates to adopt but are prevented because of additional expenses related to special circumstances.

That’s where Karen’s legacy comes in. Through the Fund, we can turn this dream of a permanent family into a reality for more children than ever by identifying children in need of homes, educating potential families about the joys of adoption, giving families the tools to be successful in the face of challenging circumstances, and uniting parents with children with risk factors or varying degrees of special needs.

If you would like to contribute to the Fund, you can make a secure online donation by clicking the Donate Now link below. You will be re-directed to Paypal. Once you have entered the amount of the donation and filled in all of your information, click "review order and continue." Click "Add special instructions to merchant" and it will open up a text box where you can specify "Karen Stager Fund."

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If you prefer to donate by mail or by credit card over the phone, visit our How You Can Help page.