It’s time! November is Adoption Awareness Month, a time to raise awareness about adoption, adoptive families and the children who are in need of adoptive homes (North American Council on Adoptable Children, 2001.) This post is to provide ideas for those of you who want to do something in honor of this special month for families built by adoption and for those children still waiting for their forever family.
If you are part of an agency, group or organization sponsoring an event in celebration of Adoption Awareness Month OR you are an individual seeking to find a local activity to attend, make sure to utilize the National Adoption Day website’s events calendar—a state by state listing of adoption events. National Adoption Day lists events and information about Adoption Awareness Month at their Twitter site—http://www.twitter.com/natadoptionday as well. You may also want to check out Orphan Sunday. Many churches and organizations have hosted “Orphan Sundays” over the years. With a nationwide Orphan Sunday, the Christian Alliance for Orphans and the Cry of the Orphan partners seek to add a unified voice and coordinated effort to the many worthy efforts that occurred this year on behalf of orphans throughout the world. This November 8 is designated as Orphan Sunday.
If you are an individual or a group interested in carrying out an activity this month below are some cost- and time-effective ideas. These suggestions have been compiled over the years by our favorite publisher, Pat Johnston:
- Contact your house of worship and arrange to donate altar flowers one Sabbath in November “In Honor of Children Waiting for Forever Families” or “In Celebration of this Congregation’s Adoption-Built Families.” Suggest that each member of your support group do the same thing so you reach many congregations of differing faiths this November.)
- Plant a tree at a park or zoo with a plaque acknowledging adoptive families or waiting children.
- Donate a favorite adoption-related book to your school teachers’ library, day-care center, or church. Educating others about the needs of adoptive families is always a valuable contribution.
- Contact your local public library or favorite bookstore about helping them do an adoption book display. (If you’re too late for this year, reserve now for next year.) Invite authors of these books to the event if they live locally. People like to meet authors and have a book personally signed.
- Subscribe to Adoptive Families, Pact Press, Adoption Today for your pediatrician’s waiting room, your school teachers’ library, your hairdresser’s waiting area, local recreation center, etc. —anywhere in your community that there are people is a good place for adoption literature!
- Send a monetary donation to your favorite adoption organization.
- Contact your local radio station and dedicate a song to waiting children or adoptive families. Some song suggestions include, “Somewhere Out There” by Linda Ronstadt and Peabo Bryson; “When Love Takes You In”, Steven Curtis Chapman; or “Do You Have a Little Love to Share?” by Janice Knapp Perry.
- Contact local organizations like Chamber of Commerce, Rotary Club, YMCA, Lions, Kiwanis, etc. and ask them to earmark donations for adoption books for local libraries.
- Take your child’s grandparents, aunts or uncles to a local adoption event or conference—help them learn what they need to know to help you and your child.
- Plan a workshop. Many speakers will donate their time to speak in their local community. Churches or other community buildings are quite generous at providing the space. Use your local adoption agencies to spread the date, time and location of your workshop.
A few more ideas that come from the North American Council on Adoptable Children include:
- Visit a restaurant or exhibit that celebrates your adopted child’s culture.
- Light candles in your house of worship for “Waiting Children” or “Adoptive Families.”
- Hold an art night at your support group or child’s school. Ask children to create drawings of family.
- Add a page to your child’s lifebook.
- Write or visit a local politician to share information about adoption.
- Invite a fellow adoptive family to dinner. Consider getting to know a family whose adoption story is different than yours.
- Spend an hour surfing the Internet for adoption sites. Download useful information for your parent support group or school teachers’ association/library. Please feel free to use the posts on this blog to help educate your school or community about issues facing adoptive families.
- Send a letter of appreciation to someone who has supported your family through or after the adoption process.
- End Adoption Awareness Month by reflecting with your family on all that you’ve done to celebrate, and make plans to continue your observances throughout the year.
Still want more ideas or advice as to how to carry out larger scale Adoption Awareness Month activities? Visit NACAC’s National Adoption Awareness Month Guide. This wonderful resource covers all facets of events from media campaigns, school presentations, community events and much more!
As a closing suggestion, please email the AdoptUsKids website to all you know. This website serves as one of the major ways our 129,000 American “Waiting Children” find their forever family! Thank you!
The”Readings and Resources” (right) offer more information about Adoption Awareness Month as well as books, websites, articles, etc. that are great to help others understand adoptees and adoptive family life.
Really, we love to hear from our blog readers—let us know what you are doing for Adoption Awareness Month!
Related Blogs:
“We are Family”: The Importance of Claiming to Enhance Attachment in Adoptive Families
2009 Best Adoption-Friendly Workplaces
