THE PRESENT 
Many of the Crossroads' Board and Staff have adopted children or are adopted. Each year, more than one hundred and fifty children join Crossroads' adoptive families. The children come from across the United States and internationally. They come from hospitals, foster homes, and orphanages. They range in age from days old through teenage. Most of the children Crossroads places are under 2 years of age and are healthy. Crossroads continues to place some children who have special physical, mental and/or emotional needs.THE FIRST TEN YEARS
Crossroads began as a task force of OURS, Inc., an adoptive parent support group based in Minnesota. OURS then became known as Adoptive Families of America (AFA) which had more than 4,000 family memberships with members in all 50 states and several foreign countries. The magazine, Adoptive Families of America is still published.
April, 1976: Crossroads was licensed as a child-placing agency by the State of Minnesota under the name of OURS Children's Services. OURS Children's Services was created by adoptive parents who believed that every child deserved a parent or two. The agency began by placing children who were not being placed by existing agencies because of race, age, physical or mental limitations, emotional problems, sibling status, or place of birth and providing service to families not served by other agencies because of size of family, age, religious preference, marital status, length of marriage, physical limitations or other arbitrary restrictions.
During the early years, operating expenses were covered by client donations along with considerable donations of time by professional staff. Now, primary revenues come from client fees and from donations by individuals, corporations and community organizations. An annual phone-a-thon and special fund raisers are held to fund foreign and domestic program development and in response to specific appeals.
March 1977: Our first placements! By the end of the first year, we had placed 33 children - 8 from the United States and 25 from other countries. The next year we placed 90 children - 42 from the U.S. and 48 from other countries. In subsequent years, between 100 and 165 children a year were placed.
April 1978: A license was issued in the name of Crossroads, signaling a friendly separation from OURS, our parent organization. This also marked the beginning of two international relationships, which continue today, with the governments in India and the Philippines.
BEGINNING THE NEXT TEN YEARS
July 1987: The "Storm of the Century" filled the Crossroads office with five feet of water. Thanks to the generosity of clients and the community, records were salvaged by "freeze drying" and used furniture and equipment was donated.
September 1990: The first four children arrived from Romania. WCCO-TV traveled to Romania with Crossroads personnel to view, first hand, the conditions of the orphanages and children. Their series, "The Iron Crib", featured in November, 1990, won awards and vividly depicted the plight of the children and country. During 1990-1991, 45 Romanian orphans joined their Crossroads families.
1992 & 1993: Crossroads adopting families welcomed by the governments of Russia and China.
1999: Crossroads accredited by the National Council on Accreditation. The Council on Accreditation (COA) is an international, independent, not-for-profit, child- and family-service and behavioral healthcare accrediting organization. COA accreditation is a process of evaluating an organization against best-practice standards. COA develops standards by using a consensus model with input from service providers, funders, policymakers, and consumers across the United States and Canada. COA currently accredits or is in the process of accrediting more than 1,500 private and public organizations that serve more than 7 million individuals and families in the United States and Canada.
2001: Crossroads accredited by the Federation of Russia under new government regulations.
IN THE 21st CENTURY
The Board and staff at Crossroads continues to believe wholeheartedly that adoption is a valid method of family building. Crossroads continues to work with each parent and child as an individual with unique potential and needs and to accord each of them dignified, caring assistance.