Celebrate National Adoption Awareness Month with Adoption.com by Supporting and Raising Awareness in Your Community

    MESA, AZ, November 01, 2011 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Every November since 1976, communities throughout the United States have celebrated adoption. The idea started simply, with Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis declaring a single day during which the adoption community was to be celebrated. This gesture evolved into a nationally recognized day, then week, during which adoptions were finalized in significantly large quantities in courts all over America. National Adoption Week was further extended by former President Bill Clinton, an adoptee, who declared adoption awareness deserved to be observed for an entire month.

Thirty-five years after the first government-sanctioned dedication to the adoption community's needs, the community now has 30 days annually dedicated to publicly educating and raising awareness about issues facing the adoption community. The apex of National Adoption Month is on National Adoption Day, when the president delivers a proclamation of national goals and the importance of adoption to America and preserving family values. On this day, hundreds of adoptions are simultaneously finalized throughout the country. The 29 other days of November are spent bringing light to a yearly theme.

This year, National Adoption Month's theme is "Making Lasting Change" for foster children in the formative years between eight and thirteen. There are roughly 107,000 adoptable children in the foster system in need of permanent placement outside of their biological household, and 8 to 13 is the most populated age range of foster children. It is therefore of the greatest need of attention, especially because older adoptable children may have trouble being placed due to the percentage of prospective adopters seeking infant placements or those who may not understand or desire the benefits of adopting an older child.

This is what makes National Adoption Month so important and why everyone, whether they think they're affected by the adoption community or not, should try to get involved in this year's National Adoption Month happenings. If you're already in an adoptive family, you may subtly celebrate adoption on a daily basis year round, but even then November is the perfect time to celebrate the role adoption plays in your family and to brainstorm ways to bring its effect into your community.

With Adoption.com's annual National Adoption Month Calendar, you'll find ways to make the most of your month. From things as simple as starting a blog to neat craft ideas and community and family oriented activities, the Adoption.com National Adoption Month calendar is a really great way to learn and share a thing or two about the adoption community as well as open dozens of doors for discussing among your family members what makes your lives unique. And, with a little extra work, you may be able to make a difference for not only the way your family feels about adoption but for future adoptive families as well.

Get your local media involved by letting them know they can contact the Children's Bureau and Ad Council to put together and distribute educational public service announcements. There are a variety of resources, media outreach materials and adoption related products for community use. Volunteers can also talk to city officials about the procedures for posting billboards and bus shelter ads. Every child has the right to a family. You can now help waiting children connect with families through the Adoption.com Photo Listing. By placing the Adoption.com Photo Listing Widget on your blog or website, you can give back and support your local foster care community.

There were an estimated 400,000 children in the U.S. foster system in 2010, about a fourth of which were waiting for permanent placements. These children deserve to be raised in a constructive environment that is both safe and loving. Making a lasting change in a child's life isn't limited to being a foster parent. The goal of 2011's National Adoption Month can be actualized in a number of voluntary roles, from choosing to educate yourself on the adoption community or raising awareness in your city, as well as finding ways to act as a mentor for local foster children or how to sponsor a family or foster child.

Adoption.com is committed to the adoption community's needs, working to educate the general population and providing services to assist as many adoptees, prospective adopters, adoptive parents and birth parents as we can. Our monthly Adoption.com E-Magazine features several articles on National Adoption Awareness Month and is an excellent resource for those wanting to learn more and become involved in the adoption community.

www.Adoption.com is committed to assisting the adoption community in helping as many children as possible find loving, permanent homes. We provide critical information, educating and edifying women facing crisis pregnancies, assist adoptees and birthparents in finding birthfamilies, and help hopeful adoptive parents make adoption dreams come true.

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