Kicking off National Adoption Awareness Month

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National Adoption Month kicks off in November and highlights the importance of finding adoptive families for all of those children who are in need of forever families! National Adoption Month started out as only being Adoption Week, but was expanded to an entire month of awareness because all of that importance and information could not fit into just one week. National Adoption Month focuses on debunking the myths and promoting positive thinking surrounding adoption. While National Adoption Month originally began to help bring awareness to the adoption of children currently in foster care, the message of the month has expanded to cover all types of adoption both domestically and internationally.

While adoption and spreading the message about the positive effects of adoption are our focus every month of the year, we are especially excited in November when the rest of the country follows suit. We encourage families to read the blogs MLJ staff posts that discuss the importance of adoption, other helpful information dealing with adoption, and many fun and interesting facts and information. Throughout this month we will discuss fundraising, special needs adoption, transracial adoption, and we will end the month with thankfulness. We encourage you to join the conversation by commenting on our blogs, Facebook, and Twitter to help spread the word about adoption and celebrate it!

We will be providing you with ideas on discussion topics about adoption throughout the month to get you involved. Below are a three easy ways to get started on celebrating adoption this month, but stay tuned, there will be plenty more ideas coming your way on our blog this month.

  • Advocate to Save the Adoption Tax Credit: In the past the adoption tax credit has been hugely important to families in offsetting the cost of adoption. There are now bills in both the House and Senate that would accomplish the goal of continuing an adoption tax credit. Encourage your representative to co-sponsor these bills. Having more co-sponsors signed on will help to ensure a broadly applicable permanent tax credit for deserving families.
  • Cooking for Culture: There is just something about cooking that brings a family together. It’s a great time to try a new recipe that celebrates your family’s diversity. While preparing the meal together make sure to talk about different cultures, embracing wherever your child was born. Cooking a meal together is a great way to start the conversation about racial and cultural issues over great tasting food. If you are a client family, we encourage you to get on your Client Care Page forum and start sharing. I know that other families would appreciate new recipes too!
  • Starting a Tradition: Create a family tradition that recognizes the unique way that adoption touches your family. Doing anything as a family will work: Family Movie Night, Family Game Night, Family Journaling, etc. Adoption month is also a great time to re-tell your child their adoption story as part of your tradition. What child doesn’t love to hear about themselves!

There are so many ways to celebrate this month. Above are just a few ideas, please feel free to comment with your ideas or traditions, we would love to hear them!

Photo Credit: nav a

For more information about MLJ Adoptions’ international adoption programs, please click here.

MLJ Adoptions is a Non-Profit, Hague-Accredited adoption service provider located in Indianapolis, Indiana, working in Africa, Eastern Europe, Latin America and the Pacific Isles. We are passionate about serving children in need.