Family Activities for National Adoption Month
Meaningful Ways Adoptive Families Can Celebrate in November
Oct 18, 2008
Started in 1976 by Massachusetts Governor Mike Dukakis as Adoption Week, National Adoption Month became a month long awareness campaign in 1990 throughout the U.S. and Canada. As part of the November celebrations, National Adoption Day is recognized on the Saturday before U.S. Thanksgiving.
Focus on Foster and Adopted Children
National Adoption Month was originally created to bring awareness to the over 140,000 children in North America who are waiting in the foster care system for permanent homes. As the celebrations evolved it became a time for everyone whose lives have been touched by adoption to reflect, celebrate and connect.
Ideas for Celebrating National Adoption Month at Home
Appropriate for foster, adoptive and birth families, these activities are family centred and can easily become special traditions each November.
- Go to Wendy’s for dinner – Dave Thomas, the founder of both Wendy’s and the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, was himself adopted as a young child. Proceeds from Wendy’s restaurants support the Dave Thomas Foundation to bring the thousands of children in foster care waiting for permanent families into the public eye.
- Read adoption books to a class – take pride in being an adoptive family by talking to a child's class about adoption. Begin adoption talks by reading age appropriate books such as Todd Parr’s We Belong Together [Little, Brown & Company, 2007] and I Love You Like Crazy Cakes by Rose A. Lewis [Little, Brown Young Readers, 2000].
- Watch a movie with an adoption theme - Look for movies that portray adoption in a positive way such as Tarzan (1999), Babe (1995), Snow Dogs (2002), Anne of Green Gables (1985), Stuart Little (1999) and Elf (2003).
- Send a letter or gift to birth parents – If a relationship already exists with the child’s birth family, set time aside in November to connect with them. For children who do not know their birth parents, this may be good time to talk about birth families and have discussions about being adopted.
- 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 traveling to meet his child from Russia. Write a letter of support to a friend who is meeting her birth mom for the first time. Congratulate a grandparent whose first grandchild is joining the family at six years of age.
- Read lifebooks and add to them – Bring out the lifebooks and share each child’s adoption story. Add to the lifebook each year by including items such as newspaper clippings of personal achievements, meaningful poetry and special photos.
- Donate to Family and Children’s Services – seek out organizations in the community that help meet the needs of foster children. Make donations of toys, clothing, books and personal care products. Volunteer as a family or help co-ordinate community events to support the organization.
The slogan for National Adoption Day - Celebrating a family for every child - sums up the purpose of bringing adoptive families and foster children into the limelight each November. Whether it is through national media events or small family activities, any celebration of adoption brings awareness to this wonderful way of forming a family.
Resources
National Council for Adoption website
Adoption Council of Canada website
