Meet Cindy Sarai | MSW, Founder, Executive Director & Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Cindy Sarai and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Cindy, is your business focused on helping the community? If so, how?
We are a private non-profit child placement agency licensed in the state of Colorado. Based in Fort Collins, we serve birth parents and adoptive families all over the state. Our core belief is that children deserve safe, loving and permanent homes to become the best they can be in life.
We believe in the diversity of our clients and are inclusive of all people. We believe in making dreams come true for children by placing them with loving healthy families. We believe in creating a confidential safe haven for all, whether you are coming to us with an unplanned pregnancy or choosing to create your family through adoption.

We support birth parents to help them gain strength as they create a plan for an unplanned pregnancy no matter what their final choice. We help them with resources and referrals to ensure that individuals are supported throughout their process. The agency offers life-long support, at no cost to them. We are advocates of open adoption as we believe it is the best situation for the children, the adoptive parents and the birth parents.

We support adoptive parents by offering a sliding fee scale to avoid eliminating good parents from becoming a family through adoption based on income level alone. Our services include education, counseling/guidance, and licensing – in other words – start to finish services as they take this journey called adoption. As with birth parents, we provide ongoing support at no additional cost.

The Dream Room is a clothing, diaper, and baby accessory resource for low-income families. Adoption Dreams Come True also recognizes that many families with small children in our community need practical support. Because of this ongoing need, the Dream Room was created to serve this population. Our mission is to serve our customers with dignity and respect and provide a no-fee shopping experience.

Adoption Dreams Come True has created an equitable and meaningful way for people to plan for their children or to create their families in a compassionate, caring, honest and safe environment. Our motto of “Creating Families, Delivering Dreams” resonates in everything we do.

&

My Artistic side: Hippy HeART

~Repurposed Materials~
~Hand Painted Art~
Making the world Beautiful

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
With over 28 years in the field of Social Work and 20 years in the adoption arena, my passion is clear. My belief that every child deserves a home that is loving, safe and permanent is the foundation for the work my agency does for birth parents, adoptive parents and children.

I created a diverse agency that was not exclusive in any aspect, but served all birth parents and adoptive families regardless of race, religion or sexual orientation. I provide free life-time counseling for all birth parents regardless of their final choice and often meets with birth moms whom I met years ago or even from ohter agencies. I nvere wanted to price good adoptive families out of the market so I created a sliding scale, using annual income, so that adoptive families are not taken out of the adoption process based solely on income. Adoption Dreams Come True has always mirrored the diversity rich world. I value the uniqueness of every client who comes through my doors.

I also recognize the need to help lower income families who choose to parent. With the help of my volunteer organization, the Dream Guild, a boutique-style baby store was created where families are treated with dignity and respect as they shop for clothing, diapers, toys and nursery supplies. This vision was the beginning of the Dream Room – a free resource for those who need assistance with supplies for their children ages 0 to 2. This local resource has served over 5000 children since opening in April 2008.

I serve as an advocate of the agency in marketing and building partnerships with key community organizations such as Realities for Children, Planned Parenthood, and several Colorado Universities. As Exective Director, I is often serve as an educI have spoken at local high schools, CSU, Denver University MBA classes, and done in-service sessions at hospitals and clinics throughout Colorado.

I/ the agency has established a strong business relationship with the Colorado Department of Corrections who are significant contributors to the annual fundraiser by donating products handmade by the inmates at several correctional facilities. By working with the DOC, we offer unique items for sale at our annual auction, provide a venue to showcase the products and skills of inmates in leather, metal work, woodwork and art and create a state-wide community connection with the DOC.

I wrote a childrens Book “Starchild” that honors the birth parents who so bravely place their children https://youtu.be/7AilCswZmqE. I believe that Birth Parents put the needs of the child before the wants of their Hearts.

My artistic Side = My side gig
Hippy HeART

“Creativity Is Intelligence Having Fun”
Albert Einstein

Happy Hungarian Hippy, Dog Lover, Outdoor Enthusiast, Social Worker, and new Artist in the making.

I decided I wanted to spruce up my place on a low budget. I started painting and hung them around my yard and home. People started asking where I got the paintings and before long, I was being commissioned. Hippy HeART was born.

Ginger DeReus, my friend and my right hand at Adoption Dreams Come True (her day job) came from corporate America and had retired a few times when she started with my adoption agency. That was 10 years ago. She took my art on old, re-purposed windows and made the frames art of their own.

Old windows are magical. Each has a story about the people inside the house, their laughter, their loves and their secrets.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
If my best friend was visiting I would: 1. take them hiking or paddle boarding at Horsetooth
2. We would do a walk about old town and shop
3. We would visit a few of the local Breweries
4.We would attend a concert at Gardens on Spring Creek
5. We would take abike ride along the Cache La Poudre River
6. We would go to an art exhibit at the Museum of Art
7. We would eat our way throught fort Collins
8 . We might even take a weekend trip to Salida to ski, raft or hotsprings

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Ginger DeReus- Director of Development – Ginger retired from Corporate America and came to work for me 10 years ago and volunteered and was a volunteer Board member prior to hire. She has helped me and Adoption Dreams come True grow. She has a heart for what we do and how we serve. She brought and helped stream line business processes. I have always known how to be a Social Worker but running a business was harder. I needed a mentor who could look at process and make things more effecient without sacrificing the quality of service delivery. She is my right hand. I and Adoption Dreams Come True would not be who we are today without her.

Her Artistic side: Hippy HeART
She took my art on old, re-purposed windows and made the frames art of their own.

Website: https://www.adoptiondreams.org/ & https://hippy-heart.square.site/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AdoptionDreamsComeTrue & https://www.facebook.com/artofahippy