News & Updates

Celebrate National Adoption Month

This month is the celebration of Adoption during November.  It originally began in 1976 by then Massachusetts Governor Mike Dukakis and began as Adoption Week.  Officially, National Adoption Day is the Saturday before Thanksgiving; which makes Saturday, November 14th the official date. For your family’s consideration, we offer a collection of ideas for you to consider for celebrating.

 Ten Ideas for Celebrating National Adoption Month

• Read adoption books to a class – take pride in being an adoptive family by talking to a child’s class about adoption if your child is interested. Some examples of books can be: Todd Parr’s We Belong Together and I Love You Like Crazy Cakes by Rose A. Lewis.
  
  
• Connect with FCC/FCV group – Your group can go out to eat as a group or other fun event and then share a large cake with a candle for each adoptive family in the group. (Thanks to the Cleveland FCC group for sharing this idea!)
  
  
• Send cards or letters to people touched by adoption – show connections to others through adoption. Send a note to a child’s teacher who is adopting. Or plan to meet someone at the airport returning from an adoption trip.
  
  
  
  
• Watch a movie with an adoption theme – Have a family movie night that includes movies that are portraying adoption in a positive light.
  
  
• Go to Wendy’s for dinner – Dave Thomas, the founder of both Wendy’s and the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption was adopted as a young child. Proceeds from Wendy’s restaurants support the Dave Thomas Foundation which supports thousands of children in foster care waiting for permanent families.
  
  
• Ask your house of worship to incorporate recognition of National Adoption month, have special prayer time for adoptive families, or discuss adoption examples found within sacred text.
  
  

• Throw a party with friends – always a fun idea! Throw an Asian themed party and invite friends. Dress in traditional dress, order Chinese take out and relax – you can put out sleeping bags and watch movies about China such as the “Peng Wei” DVD series or others.
  
  
• Reconnect with your travel group -- They shared a life changing journey with you originally. Write a special note to your travel group members and plan a reunion, maybe a return visit to Asia!
  
  
• Read life books and add to them – Bring out the life books and share each child’s adoption story. Add to the life book each year by including items such as newspaper clippings of personal achievements, meaningful poetry and special photos.
  
  
  
  
• Donate to Love Without Boundaries (www.lovewithoutboundaries.com) or other groups involved in helping children find families. Check out the children identified in Rainbow Kids newsletter that are looking for homes, or consider sponsoring a child in foster care in Asia.
  
  Whether your celebration is small or large, any celebration of adoption brings awareness to this wonderful way of forming a family. This month it’s a great time to recognize and celebrate adoption.