DFW-FRUA was founded in November 1996 and is a local chapter of the national Families for Russian and Ukrainian Adoption (FRUA) organization. DFW-FRUA is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit family support organization made up of over 100 families who have adopted, are in the process of adopting or are interested in adopting from Eastern European countries. DFW-FRUA is not an adoption agency.

DFW-FRUA’s mission is education, networking, orphanage support, community service and celebrating the joys and challenges of adoption. The group conducts meetings where families sometimes share dinner, network/socialize, and/or listen to educational speakers. Childcare is available during the speaker portion of the meetings. Speakers cover various topics associated with adoption from Eastern European countries. The group also hosts its annual Russian New Year party in January, a major cultural event for member families.

Other benefits of membership include email communication aimed at keeping members up-to-date on DFW area adoption and cultural events, access to their detailed resource list which contains information about DFW area doctors and other types of specialists instrumental in working with post-institutionalized children, and Grow Bags for families traveling to adopt their child/children, to name just a few.

Orphanage Support is an integral part of the group’s mission. DFW-FRUA supports orphanages in Eastern Europe through its Grow Bag program and it’s Orphanage Support Fund. A Grow Bag is a rolling duffle bag full of orphanage donations for families traveling to adopt their child/children. Clothing, shoes, developmental toys and over-the-counter medications with language translations are examples of items that might be included in a Grow Bag.

DFW-FRUA also supports orphanages through its Orphanage Support Fund, established in 2003. The group conducts several annual fundraisers to raise money for the fund, after which it chooses Orphanage Support project/s to sponsor annually with the money. DFW-FRUA currently pays the annual salary of a nurse whose main duty is to play "grandmother" - holding, loving and caring for children who live in St. Petersburg Hospital #15, the only hospital that takes in abandoned children for the city of St. Petersburg. And in Dec 2004, DFW-FRUA replaced two commercial stoves in Baby Home #16 in St. Petersburg. All the food for the children in this orphanage is cooked on these stoves.