Creating a Family
Public records show a registered, tax-exempt organization in good standing.
What it says it does
Foster, kinship and adoptive parents need information because our children often struggle with emotional and educational challenges that can make parenting hard. It is important that this information be expert-based and trauma-informed rather than the anecdotal sharing that often takes place. The MISSION of Creating a Family is to do just that - to strengthen and inspire adoptive, foster and kinship parents and the professionals who support them by creating engaging, expert-based and trauma-informed resources and training. We create resources for families raising kids who have experienced the trauma of neglect, abuse and prenatal exposure. Our resources embrace all the current media in order to fit the learning style and time availability of busy parents. In addition to education, we know first-hand the power of support and being surrounded by others who understand your experience. As such, we run a large online support group for adoptive, foster and kinship families.
- Income
- $747,050
- Spending
- $596,867
- Spent on programs
- 74%
- Reserves
- 16.8 months of spending
- Largest source of income
- fees for its services, 53%
- Employees
- 6
- Volunteers
- 4
- Highest pay
- $95,557, executive director, board director
Source: Form 990 for the year ending December 31, 2024, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Financial health
Strong: 100 out of 100. Higher than 89% of charities in its peer group (human services, $250k to $1m).
Reserves
35 of 35Spendable reserves would cover 16.8 months of spending.
Debt
20 of 20It owes 13% of what it owns.
Living within its means
15 of 15Income exceeded spending by 20% of income.
Income trend
15 of 15Income rose 1% on the year before.
Spending floor
15 of 1574% of spending went to programs and raising each dollar of donations cost 26 cents.
Source: Form 990 for the year ending December 31, 2024, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Governance
Strong: 100 out of 100. Higher than 94% of charities in its peer group (human services, $250k to $1m).
Independent board
25 of 2511 of 11 voting board members are independent.
Conflict of interest policy
15 of 15Has a written conflict of interest policy.
Whistleblower policy
8 of 8Has a written whistleblower policy.
Record keeping policy
7 of 7Has a written policy on keeping and destroying records.
Board minutes
5 of 5Keeps minutes of board meetings.
Board sees the tax return
10 of 10Gave the board a copy of this return before filing it.
Pay set independently
5 of 5Sets its chief executive's pay through independent review and comparison.
Independent check of accounts
15 of 15Its accounts were audited by an independent accountant.
No reported misuse
10 of 10Reports no diversion of assets, excess benefits or loans to insiders.
Source: Form 990 for the year ending December 31, 2024, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Impact evidence
Describes programs. Its tax return describes what it does but we have found no measurable results in it.
Programs described in its return (8)
- $35,109 spent. Creating a Family's Interactive Training and Support Curriculum for Foster, Adoptive & Kinship Families was designed to make it easy for organizations to run engaging, high-quality support groups (in-person or online). Our curriculum is a turnkey resource developed to help facilitators provide support and training while building community, reducing caregiver stress, and helping caregivers feel more confident in parenting children exposed to trauma. In 2020, Creating a Family worked to create, pilot and test the new Interactive Training & Support for Foster/Adoptive/Kinship Families Subscription Service. Ten curricula were developed in 2020 and offered to the public in 2021. During 2021 an additional 10 curricula were developed. In 2022, 5 more curricula were developed. In 2023 we launched a new website to house our Curriculum, making it more accessible and user friendly to organizations running support groups for foster, adoptive and kinship families. The Interactive Training & Support Curricula provides resources and wraparound services with the goal of increasing the number of parent support groups available to families by making it easier to facilitate and maintain high-quality groups where parents develop social connections, reduce stress, and feel more confident in parenting children exposed to trauma. Each curriculum includes a video, facilitator guide, and handouts. The wraparound subscription service has initial facilitator training for online or in-person groups, access to participant evaluations, and access to a curriculum library that includes 25 topics for foster, adoptive, and kinship parents. In 2024, we began developing the Kinship Interactive Training and Support curriculum which is a 10.5 hour curriculum package designed to provide support and training for kinship caregivers raising children in their home.
- $68,088 spent. In 2024, Creating a Family updated and delivered the Prenatal Exposure Workshop for Foster, Adoptive and Kinship Parents over five workshops online during the year. This workshop is designed to help participants recognize children who may have been impacted by prenatal exposure to alcohol and drugs and trains them on best practices for working with these children and youth to help them thrive. The workshop was delivered over five sessions and includes a video with embedded video interviews with experts from UNC's Knowles Center for Alcohol Studies, Duke University School of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, and foster parents with lived experience raising children with prenatal substance exposure. Further, the videos included animated videos that we created to help explain and animate complex concepts. Each workshop is facilitated by two staff and includes group discussion during each session. Participants have access to an online resource library to reference further materials on topics presented during the workshop, including diagnosis, strategies, and further resources.
- $93,045 spent. Another invaluable program service is the Creating a Family podcast. This free, weekly, one-hour production, hosted by Executive Director, Dawn Davenport, covers topics in the fields of adoption, foster care and kinship care with guests that are specialists in their respective fields. Further, each week, Dawn answers listeners' questions during a 5-10 minute podcast that is published on the weekend. There were 169,900 listens during 2024 and 3.1 million listens since the podcast's inception. Creating a Family created a 4-hour facilitated training specific to child welfare professionals to help them better understand the impact of prenatal exposure to alcohol and drugs, recognize children who may have been exposed, and support the adoptive, foster, and kinship families who are raising them. In 2024, we piloted this training with ten public child welfare agencies and one American Indian tribe. In collaboration with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, School of Social Work, the training was evaluated and its impact on child welfare professionals was assessed. Children and youth who were exposed during pregnancy to alcohol and drugs are significantly more likely to face placement instability. Child Welfare Professionals trained on the long-term developmental and behavioral impacts of this exposure are better prepared to train and support the families raising these kids.
- $45,092 spent. The Creating a Family website, www.CreatingaFamily.org is the focal point of our organization. Our mission is to strengthen and inspire adoptive, foster & kinship parents and the professionals who support them in raising children exposed to trauma, including prenatal exposure, by creating expert-based and trauma-informed resources and training for parents and professionals. Our website is where we house the resources and trainings we create. In 2022, Creating a Family averaged 50,500+ average page views monthly. There is no charge for the vast majority of resources provided on the site.
- $46,992 spent. Creating a Family provides online courses for adoptive, foster, and kinship parents and continuing education courses for social workers in the child welfare field. We have 75+ parent courses for pre-adoptive, in-service foster, and post-adoption families. Each course is 1 hour and comes with a Certificate of Completion. Our courses align with the federal requirements for international adoption and various state-specific pre-adoption education requirements. Our courses address topics relevant to adoptive, foster, and kinship families. We also offer 19 courses accredited by the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) to offer continuing education (CE) credit for social workers. In 2024, more than 36,252 courses were enrolled.
- $33,008 spent. Creating a Family reaches out to individuals through its weekly adoption, foster care, and kinship newsletter to 6,400 subscribers and through its broad exposure to the social networks that it maintains on Facebook (9,650+ followers and over 11,300 followers of the Support Group page), Instagram (3,100+) and Pinterest (6,450+) followers. Creating a Family also reaches out to adoption and foster professionals through its weekly newsletter to 4,200 subscribers and through LinkedIn (1,576) followers.
- $95,126 spent. In 2024, Creating a Family delivered both in-person and online support groups for kinship caregivers providing opportunities for peer support and learning. Further, in 2024, we launched a monthly legal clinic for kinship caregivers in North Carolina. We work with three NC family law attorneys to answer questions through an online clinic by Zoom. We continued to provide information on legal permanency options to North Carolina kinship caregivers through NCkinshipfamilies.org. This is a multimedia website that we developed featuring expert videos, kinship caregiver videos, tip sheets, and other resources to help relative caregivers consider their best options when making permanency decisions. The website offers links and information on how to find an attorney and additional legal resources. All of our programs for relative caregivers are developed with input from our Kinship Advisory Board made up of relative caregivers from across the state of North Carolina.
- $26,297 spent. Creating a Family provided weekly content creation in the form of articles and corresponding images for an outside organization to publish on their website. Content covered a range of topics developed in partnership with the organization to support grandparents raising grandchildren and other relative caregivers in their target area.
Source: Form 990 for the year ending December 31, 2024, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Legitimacy checks
Is it registered with the IRS? Passed.
Listed in the IRS master file of tax-exempt organizations as a 501(c)(3) charitable organization.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Has the IRS revoked its tax-exempt status? Passed.
Not on the IRS automatic revocation list.
Source: Automatic revocation of exemption list, Internal Revenue Service, file dated November 6, 2026.
Are donations tax-deductible? Passed.
On the IRS list of organizations eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions.
Source: Publication 78 data: organizations eligible for tax-deductible contributions, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Is it keeping up with its IRS filings? Passed.
Most recent return on file covers the year ending December 2024.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
How long has it been tax-exempt? Passed.
Recognized by the IRS since May 2010.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Is it in good standing with state regulators? Passed.
Not on California's list of charities barred from soliciting. Other states are not yet checked.
Source: May Not Operate or Solicit for Charitable Purposes list, California Attorney General, Registry of Charities and Fundraisers, file dated November 4, 2026.
Ratings and checks are our reading of public records, using the published method. They are not a statement about anyone's honesty. If you work for this organization, you can send corrections or results, confirm you want gifts through Veridonate, or ask to be removed from giving.