Springfield, IL, November 29, 2005 - The Department of Children and Family Services' in-house expert on international adoptions, Mary Donley, received a "Friends of Adoption Award" during a November 18th gala ceremony in Oak Brook. Presented by the Sunny Ridge Family Center, the annual awards recognize individuals and organizations that help cast a positive light on adoptions through their words and actions. Past recipients include country singer Faith Hill, cocaine baby researcher Dr. Ira Chasnoff and radio personality Steve Cochran.

The Wheaton-based adoption agency presented Donley their Friends of Adoption Award to acknowledge her "experience, passion, efficiency and attention to detail" in helping to serve children and build families around the world.

Donley joined DCFS in 1988 as a Springfield area follow-up worker, later becoming the Department's Intercountry Adoption Coordinator in 2000. Working inside the Interstate Compact Office, Donley provides administrative and technical assistance to nearly a thousand families each year as they seek to adopt children from other countries.

Donley is the only Illinois recipient of this year's Friends of Adoption Award. Another award was presented to Steven Curtis Chapman, a Grammy Award-winning singer who established the Shaohannah's Hope organization to provide information and financial grants to families who desire to adopt children in other countries.

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Diane Jackson
Illinois Department of Children and Family Services
312-814-6847