When is National Adoption Day?
The Saturday before Thanksgiving is National Adoption Day.
What is National Adoption Day?
Last pick in recess kickball, that’s a bad feeling. The shame is legendary. What about being last pick for having a family? That’s a crude way to put it. The experience is similar though. It carries the pain of feeling unwanted. National Adoption Day raises awareness about the children waiting for a family to choose them for adoption.
Foster children need stability, just like any other child. An adoptive family can provide the grounding and loving environment that will allow a child to excel in life. Dave Thomas, founder of Wendy’s, was adopted. So were Edgar Allen Poe and Jamie Foxx, Marilyn Monroe and Eleanor Roosevelt.
Every year, around 135,000 American children are adopted into families, but more children continue to wait in the system. National Adoption Day encourages interested families to look into the statistics about foster care and adoption. Advocates use National Adoption Day to dispel misconceptions about the difficulty of adoption and the sorts of children in need of loving homes.
Some children in foster care struggle with unusual challenges, but many don’t. They’re your average child dealing with the typical struggles of life as a kid. Regardless of their emotional or physical situation, every kid in foster care needs to a family that will cherish them in the most formative years of their life.
Fun facts about National Adoption Day!
- More than 117,000 U.S. foster children are waiting for adoption.
- Children in foster care wait for an average of 3 years before adoption.
- Every year, more than 20,000 kids in foster care grow too old for the system without ever finding a permanent family.
- Almost 5,000 kids were adopted on the 2017 National Adoption Day.
- The Adoption and Safe Families Act simplified foster care adoption, so the legendary red tape and bureaucracy of old (pre-1997) no longer slow the process down as much.
How to celebrate National Adoption Day:
Check out the myths and realities of adoption. Research the process. If you have considered adopting, ask yourself what is holding you back, and then ask if that’s a barrier you can overcome with some research and planning.
What’s the hashtag for National Adoption Day?
Use #NatAdoptionDay on social media to promote adoption.