Local couple creates fund for adoptive families

A Brandon couple is looking to make the child adoption process a little easier for families wishing to grow. 

It was through their personal experience that Austin and Lindsey Claeys created a scholarship fund aimed at offering grants to families on a similar journey. 

The Claeyses, who tried to have a baby naturally for about four years, determined adoption was the way they wanted to start their family. 

“We both feel so strongly that this has always been the path we were meant to take,” Austin Claeys said.

They made that decision in December 2022. The Claeyses were home study-approved in May 2023 and matched in July. However, around the holidays, the birth mom opted to keep the baby, so the Claeyses had no choice but to start again. 

It was going to be a Christmas baby, Claeys said, but the couple was left heartbroken. 

“We took the month of November and December to decide how to move forward, get back on the list, and needed money in hand to get on the list.”

They wanted it so badly that they considered looking to their retirement funds to pay the required fees to move forward. But a new year brought new hope, and they were matched in April before baby boy Brooks was born in June. 

“It was just beautiful,” Claeys said. “Pure bliss.”

During the months that they waited to be matched for the second time, the couple decided to start a nonprofit that would help families apply for grants and provide some funding to help them achieve their adoption dreams. 

Through their research, Claeys said there is no specific adoption-focused grant foundation in South Dakota.

The adoption process is expensive when it involves supporting the birth mother through living expenses, food and health care upon matching. The average cost of private domestic adoption in the United States ranges from $20,000 to $50,000.

During their journey, Austin and Lindsey applied for almost a dozen grants nationwide — many of which required travel, attending an event or paying additional fees for which Claeys deemed unnecessary. 

“Adoptive parents are working to save every single penny for the adoption process,” he said. 

That’s why they want to help others, and the Sunshine Scholarship Fund was born. 

Thankfully, Claeys is no stranger to the grant-writing process because his full-time job includes helping towns and communities find funds for their projects. 

The Claeyses found a partner in Sioux Falls-based, nonprofit adoption agency All About U, hoping to reach as many families as possible and averaging 15 to 25 adoptions per year. 

“We are committed to taking the best care of all clients,” All About U founder and director Coleen Brasch said. “That includes making sure potential adoptive families are ready to be adoptive parents, assisting pregnant women with the hardest decision they will ever make and helping adopted individuals process their feelings about their roots and their personal story.”

Brasch said grants like the Claeyses’ Sunshine Scholarship Fund can be the deciding factor in being able to pursue the adoption of a child.

“Having these grants will make it possible for some families to achieve parenthood that would otherwise be unattainable,” she added. “This also means that the birth parents who are making the ultimate sacrifice to give their child a life they are unable to provide have great options for local families to choose from. The child they are placing in an adoptive home gets a chance at a life he/she would not otherwise have.”

Through 2025, Claeys wants to raise $200,000 and have the ability to award grants to area families between $2,500 and $5,000.

Each application will be reviewed by a selection committee.  

“In the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t seem like a lot, but to us and other adoptive parents, any little bit helps substantially,” Claeys said. 

His goal for 2026 is to award five to seven grants each totaling more than $25,000. 

“Becoming parents, seeing your parents become grandparents, celebrating holidays, it’s beautiful,” Claeys said. “Adoption is a commitment, and we want to help families who, like us, are all-in.”

To learn more about the Sunshine Scholarship Fund or make a donation, reach out to Claeys at [email protected].