Despite the weather turning blustery and snowy, November is one of our favorite months for two reasons- National Adoption Month 2016 and Thanksgiving! Both events center around the celebration of family and we think they complement each other perfectly. National Adoption Month celebrates the many blessings of adoption while raising awareness of the children who are waiting for their forever family. Thanksgiving celebrates all of the blessings in our lives and gathers families and friends together. If your family has been touched by adopton, take time around your Thanksgiving table to appreciate how adoption has changed your family.
National Adoption Month gives us an opportunity to reflect and be grateful for birth parents, adoptive families and adopted children, but it also shines a light on those children who are waiting for their forever family. There are thousands of children here in the US that are waiting in the foster care system to be adopted. All children need a family and a parent or parents to unconditionally love and support them throughout their lives.
While you are at your Thanksgiving celebration, if you feel that you have room at the table (as well as in your home and heart) for an adopted child, there are some questions you should ask yourself while carefully considering this huge decision. Here are some questions to ask yourself from our last post about National Adoption Month:
- What age child do I want to adopt? (Most children in the public foster care system are older
- How will this child fit in my family?
- Should I consider adopting a sibling group?
- Am I prepared to help a child reach their full potential by giving them the family they need?
- Can I handle a child with special needs, such as emotional, behavioral, developmental or physical challenges?
- Do I have the resources in my community, local school or family to support a child with special needs?
- Am I looking to adopt a child of a specific gender, race or culture?
- Am I willing to parent a child who may have faced physical, mental, emotional, or sexual abuse?
- If the child has siblings or family members am I willing to maintain contact for the sake of my adopted child?
- Am I willing to adopt a child with developmental delays or who has been diagnosed with a learning disability?
- Can I love a child that is not related to me and give them the security and sense of family they need?
- Can I help a hurt child learn to love and become part of a family?
Some of these questions may be hard for you to answer. If you are seriously considering adopting from foster care, you should be absolutely honest with yourself while mulling them over. The process should not be rushed into, and you should be absolutely sure that you can make a life-long commitment to a child before beginning your adoption journey. All adoptions take time and the road can be bumpy and winding, and there is no "end" to an adoption- it is a life-long journey.
If you would like to talk to an adoption professional about your adoption options or potential issues you may have, please feel free to contact us. Anita or Renee would be happy to speak with you about adoption and give you a better idea of what is entailed.
Family Connections, Inc. is an authorized child placing agency that has achieved Hague Accreditation through the Council on Accreditation. Family Connections works with New York families to provide home study services, for domestic (agency, public and private) adoption, international adoption, and post adoption/placement services. If you want to learn more about your adoption options Family Connections offers a free no-obligation consultation. To ask us your questions you can contact Renee or Anita at 607-756-6574 or by clicking on the button below.
You can find more information about National Adoption Month at http://www.nationaladoptionday.org
You can view the profiles of children currently waiting in the public system for adoption at www.adoptuskids.org
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