November: National Adoption Month Awareness Month

Image: Shutterstock

Kira Mortenson rightly said, ‘God knew that it doesn’t matter how your children get to your family. It just matters that they got there.’

Adoption is a beautiful concept that finds a home for children who never knew they could be a part of a loving family. As it is said, love is love, irrespective of who and how.

Foster children live a tough life and experience several challenges in their foundation years. Eight is the age when a child is accepted into foster care homes. And then, they keep changing their foster homes three times on average (1), which separates them from their siblings and friends. And if they are not adopted, they have to move out of their foster home and live independently after a certain age.

Love and fun in tits and bits, longing for a family, compressed living—this is how a foster child lives. So this National Adoption Month, let’s encourage and spread the word so that a little one waiting there could get a loving family.

In This Article

What Do The Facts Say?

Let’s see how the statistics are placed in terms of adoption in the US.

Around 437,000 children are there in foster homes on a given day in the US (2).
Children in foster care experience three to five placements every two years (2).
Teenagers have to wait longer compared to younger children for adoption.
In 2018, 4,058 adoptions took place in the US (3).
Only 2% have adopted a child in the US. However, one-third have considered it an option (4).

Who Initiated National Adoption Month?

In 1976, Mike Dukakis, the then-governor of Massachusetts, started the adoption week to encourage families to accept and take care of children in foster homes. Later, in 1984, President Gerald R. Ford made the adoption week a national event. Then in 1988, President Bill Clinton made November the ‘National Adoption month’ to acknowledge the fact that foster care children need an affectionate space to grow.

How To Celebrate National Adoption Month?

Children in foster homes experience a challenging life and need a healthy family to raise them in a secure and loving environment. You may celebrate or participate in the National Adoption Month event by:

Spreading awareness
Encouraging friends, relatives, and neighbors to take a stand on it
Recognizing the families who adopted children
Supporting foster care children
Asking communities and businesses to support adoption
Attending adoption events in your neighborhood
Helping foster care children with books, clothes, or things they need
Sharing stories, pictures, and more about adoption and fostering

At What Age Can Children Be Adopted?

Children younger than 16 can be adopted in the US. However, 16 and 17 years old can be adopted if their siblings are adopted, and they are left alone. Children can be adopted within the country and from outside , which are termed domestic and international adoption, respectively. While international adoption is more expensive than domestic, the latter’s process is easier.

The motive of celebrating National Adoption Month is to bring forward the issues related to adoption, identify the experiences of foster children, encourage families who already are considering the option, and most importantly, remove the stigma associated with adoption. Children who do not have their biological parents and have been sent to foster care due to financial or other issues need support and love. They look for permanent connections, emotionally, physically, and legally, for their physical and mental wellbeing.

References

MomJunction's articles are written after analyzing the research works of expert authors and institutions. Our references consist of resources established by authorities in their respective fields. You can learn more about the authenticity of the information we present in our editorial policy.