991049 Wendy's Founder Pushes AdoptionOctober 16, 1999Washington - On television, Dave Thomas pushes Wendy's hamburgers and chili. Off camera, he pushes would-be parents to consider adoption. “I simply want to raise awareness to help children find loving homes,” the founder of the Ohio-based chain of fast-food restaurants told the National Press Club on Tuesday. “The kids today are in foster care much too long,” he said. Thomas has advocated more and easier adoptions. He was the child of an unwed woman who gave him up for adoption during the Great Depression. Growing up, Thomas said, he didn't know he'd been adopted. He advised parents of adoptive children to tell them “as early as possible - it's really the right thing to do.” He spoke freely about his past and his efforts to find his birth family, but he batted away questions about interracial adoptions or adoptions by single people: “Whatever works,” he said. “I am a hamburger cook who was adopted. I don't have all the answers.”
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