In order to assist as many families as possible in our community, families referred to Adopt-A-Family must not be registered with another agency's holiday program in the current year. To identify overlap, parents’ first and last names and the child's first name and age are disclosed to the Christmas Holiday Bureau (managed by the Salvation Army) to determine if the family is registered with another holiday program. If families are registered with another program, they will not be eligible for Adopt-A-Family. Families, with their workers, will determine for themselves which holiday support program they will access.

Agencies that are part of the Christmas Holiday Bureau agree to keep all client names confidential and will only use them for the purpose of cross-checking other programs' registrants.

The following are examples of some of the agencies connected to the Christmas Holiday Bureau: The Salvation Army, Chalmers, Guelph Food Bank, County of Wellington Housing Services and Ontario Works/ODSP.