November 02, 2017
National Adoption Month 2017: How Can I Celebrate?
November is a wonderful time for those touched by adoption, because it’s National Adoption Month! Each year, this month has a different theme which brings heightened awareness to a particular need in the adoption and foster care worlds. It is particularly focused on bringing attention to the lives and realities of youth in the foster care system, who are in desperate need of a family.
The situation for teenagers living in the foster care system can be so dire, that for the second year in a row, National Adoption Month is focused on their needs. This year’s theme, “Teens Need Families, No Matter What,” “highlights the importance of identifying well-prepared and committed families for the thousands of teenagers in foster care. Many of these young people are less likely to be adopted, often because of their age, and will too often age out of the system without a stable support system. Securing lifelong connections for these teens, legally and emotionally, is an urgent need and critical component of their future achievement and overall well-being.”
How can you celebrate adoption awareness this month? There are so many ways. Here are a few of our favorites:
—Share your own story! First and foremost, this month is about bringing awareness to adoption. There are so many things people do not understand about the adoption process, and the more people share their own experience, the more awareness and knowledge we bring to this beautiful, challenging, emotional, and vital process.
—Attend a local Adoption Month event. How are foster care or adoption organizations in your community getting involved?
—Become a CASA volunteer, and help support a foster child.
—Find a local foster care organization and offer to purchase, or donate, goods and materials their children need.
—Become a mentor to a teenager in foster care. This month’s initiative focuses on teens because they are often the most abandoned by the system. The danger of aging out of the system is very real, and so many turn 18 without any familial support system, or the proper resources to successfully and solidly move into and through adulthood. Any emotional support you can offer could be life-changing.
—Spend the month talking more about adoption with your children. Watch adoption-themed movies, eat food and share activities inspired by their cultural heritage, teach them about National Adoption Month and encourage them to find their own voice within this month of awareness.
—Contribute financially to a local foster care organization, or sponsor a foster teen.
—Go through your home with your children and family to gather items to donate to a foster care organization. Not only will this create valuable conversation about the reality of teens in foster care, and their needs, but it gets your children involved in a beautiful and positive way.
Think about activities you can participate in annually with your family. Making your National Adoption Month activities an yearly tradition is a wonderful way to celebrate this vital and essential month. Happy National Adoption Month! We are so proud to celebrate you, and to have you as part of our adoption community.
