By Rick GarciaWhat do Steve Jobs, Nelson Mandela and former U.S. Presidents Gerald R. Ford and Bill Clinton all have in common? If you haven’t already done a google search on your phone or computer, the aforementioned notables are on the same team of Wendy’s Restaurant founder Dave Thomas – also the creator of the Wendy’s Foundation for Adoption.
November is National Adoption Month. More than 100,000 children and youth in the U.S. foster care system are awaiting permanent loving families. Sadly, many have been waiting years to get adopted. National Adoption Month is a time to raise awareness about the adoption of children and youth from foster care.
The Children’s Bureau in partnership with AdoptUSKids and Child Welfare Information Gateway sponsors the initiative during this month as a way to focus public attention on the urgent need for adoptive families for children and youth waiting in foster care for a permanent family. This year’s focus, “Partnering for Permanency,” builds on the social media theme from last year. A special web page on Information Gateway’s website helps child welfare professionals, prospective adoptive parents, and youth partner for permanency.
National Adoption Day, which is observed annually on the Saturday before Thanksgiving, will be celebrated on November 23, 2013. Here judges and child advocates come together to do something great – create forever families. National Adoption Day is a collective effort to raise awareness of the thousands of children waiting in foster care. This one day offers communities across the country the opportunity to finalize adoptions and celebrate adoptive families.
Since its inception in 2000, more than 44,500 children have joined families as part of National Adoption Day activities. During National Adoption Day this year, it is expected that nearly 4,500 adoptions from foster care will be finalized nationwide.
According to the Administration for Children and Families under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, over 20,000 children are currently in our state’s foster care system. Over 6,100 of these children have been freed for adoption and are waiting for a family. In most cases these same children will wait in care for more than three years to be adopted and of that same set 795 youth will never be adopted and will age out of foster care. In other words, a child in the foster care system has a 1 on 3 chance of NOT being adopted before aging out of foster care.
Research shows that many of these youth will face significant obstacles in the future, including homelessness, unemployment, depression and substance abuse. Nationally, 53% of children adopted in 2010 were adopted by their foster parents. Another 32% were adopted by relatives.
The awareness campaign seems very appropriate during Thanksgiving holiday, as many gather together to give thanks for our families and count our blessings. For thousands of children in foster care, this cherished celebration is just a dream. Six years ago, it became a reality for two four-year old twin girls who came into our lives as our own daughters.
This is an important month for families of adopted children, because it reminds us of how blessed we as parents and siblings are to have unconditional love from children who yearned for that special bond, regardless of lacking family history. To seek good fortune, all I have to do is pray and look across the dining table at two young beautiful faces.
For more information visit the Michigan Department of Human Services Foster Care and Adoption unit www.michigan.gov/dhs , visit nationaladoptionday.org. or contact The Michigan Adoption Resource Exchange (MARE) who can help potential adoptive families find agencies that can facilitate an adoption.
Rick Garcia, a nonprofit executive, a civil rights advocate, blogger and a contributing writer for The New Citizens Press can be reached at rrgarcianrg@gmail.com
This was printed in the November 3, 2013 – November 16, 2013 Edition
