A non-profit organization with a 40 year history, Arms Wide is deeply committed to preserving and fulfilling families. Our mission is transforming the lives of children in need of safe and nurturing permanent families. Arms Wide was originally established in 1977 in Houston, Texas as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization under its parent organization, the Christian Child Help Foundation, to launch a
program to aid the overwhelming number of children who were removed from their homes due to abuse or neglect and placed in the protective custody of the State of Texas’ foster care system. In 1980, the agency changed its name to Spaulding for Children, received its own Child Placement License and became an autonomous, secular agency with its own Governing Board of Directors. In 2000, Spaulding for Children merged with the Christian Child Help Foundation, absorbing its parent organization. In 2017, Spaulding for Children rebranded as Arms Wide Adoption Services to build on the reputation we built with the Spaulding for Children name – expertly finding children the right family and permanent home through a personal and honest approach. In 2023, we decided to remove “Adoption Services” from our name. Despite this shift, adoption remains a cornerstone of our programming just as it has been for the past 46 years. But we recognize that while adoption may be the right path for some of the children we serve, the support and care we provide is so much more. Our team embraces each family with warmth and compassion, and we hold their hand through each step of their journey, whether they are coming to us for foster care, foster care adoption, kinship care, or permanency support. Since its inception, Arms Wide has placed more than 2,2600 children in permanent adoptive homes. Foster care, adoption and post adoption services originated through the agency’s Houston office, which serves Harris County and the 12 surrounding counties in the Greater Houston area. In 2003, collaborative funding sources allowed Arms Wide to establish its first satellite office in Corpus Christi, Texas. From this base, South Texas staff places children throughout the state’s 19 southernmost counties. Today, Arms Wide’s Houston and South Texas offices serve a combined total of 32 counties, which are home to approximately one third of the state’s population.
