ALL IN THE FAMILY—The Cancillas are all smiles in 2007 on the day they met their son Harrison. From left, Annaliese, then 5, Mary, baby Harrison and Warren. The family adopted Harrison with the help of The Orphan Foundation. The group helps to pay adoption expenses, which can be quite substantial. When they adopted a California newborn with Down syndrome in 2007, Mary and Warren Cancilla of Newbury Park received financial assistance from The Orphan Foundation, a Newbury Parkbased nonprofit, to help pay for the expensive undertaking.

“So many fees come into play,” Mary Cancilla said. “The grant definitely helped.”

The numbers involving orphans and adoption expenses are staggering. According to the foundation, there are 143 million orphans worldwide; adoption costs range from $19,000 for a child from the United States to $30,000 for an international adoption.

The Orphan Foundation offers information, support and financial grants to families seeking to adopt.

Since its inception in 2006, the nonprofit has provided grants for the adoption of 30 children and helped more than 40 families nationwide in the adoption process. The children have come from the U.S. as well as overseas.

“We’ve been able to accomplish quite a bit in that short amount of time considering we started from nothing,” said board member Sandy Allan. “It’s very rewarding, especially when you hear the stories from the families.”

The Cancillas have a biological daughter who is 7. Their adopted son is 2. Mary Cancilla, who has worked with severely disabled children, said the couple wanted to adopt a Down syndrome baby to “do something for a child a little more difficult to adopt.”

“We felt we have a wonderful family, and we wanted to share that,” Mary Cancilla said. “He’s a lot of fun, just a great kid. His sister adores him.”

The foundation encourages the adoption of older children as well. When boys and girls are 17 or 18 years old they must leave orphanages, Allan said. Many end up in illegal activities, including drugs and prostitution, in order to support themselves, she added.

But it’s harder to find families for children older than 5 because most adoptive parents want babies, Allen said.

The foundation receives two to three grant requests daily. Adopting families must pay the orphanage and attorneys, as well as for home studies, background and credit checks. The foundation offers grants of $1,250 per child.

“Many people would love to adopt, but when they get into it and find out how expensive it is they are forced to drop out,” Allan said. “We would like adoptions to be free.”

The foundation is a nonprofit group made up of volunteers who work out of their homes. There is no office, Allan said. The board’s members live throughout the United States and hold teleconferences when they meet monthly. Robin Martino of Agoura Hills is the current president.

“Every bit of money we raise goes to families and the children,” Allan said. “We also want to get to a point where we can help with health insurance coverage for these children.”

The foundation was established by Joe and Tatiana DiDonadio of Newbury Park. Joe DiDonadio, a corporate executive who worked for many years in customer and internal education, traveled to Russia in 2003 to offer the government advice on using distance-learning technology in remote orphanages.

“They were hoping that by providing more education to the orphans, it would help break a continuing cycle. . . .” DiDonadio wrote on the foundation’s website. “Former orphans, who were now young married adults, were abandoning their own children when they found themselves unable to earn enough money to support their families.”

During the visit, DiDonadio met Tatiana Khoudoyarova, the pediatrician who took care of the orphans. The couple fell in love, and Tatiana moved to Newbury Park, where they formed the foundation.

The group’s first fundraising effort was the delivery of hundreds of donation collection boxes to gas stations and convenience stores. Volunteers estimate that it takes a year and 35 donation boxes in high-traffic locations to pay for one domestic adoption, 50 boxes for an international adoption.

To raise money for their cause the group is collecting gently used books, puzzles, DVDs and videotapes to be sold at the Thousand Oaks Rotary Club street fair on Moorpark Road from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sun., Oct. 18. The booth will be near El Torito restaurant adjacent to the Janss Marketplace.

Anyone interested in donating items can call (877)-41O-RPHAN (416-7742) or send an e-mail to gifts@theorphanfoundation.org. The foundation will arrange a pickup. Donations also may be dropped off at 74 W. Cochran St., Ste. B, Simi Valley.

A holiday gift wrap fundraiser will be offered in local stores in partnership with RSVP, a senior citizen volunteer group. The foundation is planning its first gala in May. Several organizations and individuals will be honored for their support of the foundation.

A variety of volunteer opportunities are offered. Through service tours, participants spend about one-third of an overseas trip helping and playing with children at an orphanage. In the Kids4Kids Project, U.S. students run awareness, fundraising or volunteer campaigns. Other opportunities involve assisting U.S. orphans and foster children.

For more information, visit www.theorphanfoundation.org or call the phone number listed above.