It’s World Adoption Day soon and you may be wondering what it is and how to get involved and support.
This year, World Adoption Day is going to be held on 23rd November and its aim is not only to raise awareness of adoption and the adoption process but to celebrate adoptive families and raise funds to support families.
World Adoption Day was founded by Hank Fortener, who is also the founder of AdoptTogether.org, the world’s first and largest crowdfunding site for adoption costs in the USA where adoption can cost up to $50,000! (unlike in the UK where adoption does not cost other than medicals, overseas DBS checks and perhaps a few extras along the way,)
Hank has had a lot of personal experience with fostering and adoption, and his story is a very interesting one. His parents fostered 36 children and adopted 8 children from 5 different countries when he was younger. This experience instilled in him that family is not about last names, skin colour or DNA, it’s about who’s in your home and who you are taking care of.
He was initially shocked to find out that, amongst all of the other weird and wonderful national and world holidays, something as meaningful as world adoption day didn’t exist. He decided that this needed to change and embarked on a mission to make it happen.
Now that he’s successfully made World Adoption Day an official day, ambassadors of this fantastic day from all over the world organize events and parties to help achieve its goal and raise awareness.
Children that need adopting have often had a very traumatic and tough start in life, and there can be a lot of negativity around this. Adoption, however, encourages healing, hope, joy and encourages people to celebrate family.
So, how can you get involved?
On 23rd November, World Adoption Day asks you to draw a smiley face on your hand, take a selfie and upload to social media using the hashtag #WorldAdoptionDay
You can also get involved by visiting the World Adoption Day website and donating. Donations made on this website contribute to families who need financial help with their adoption.
Thirdly, you can contribute. You can volunteer, become an ambassador, connect to your organization and/or create and attend events.
Any contribution can make a difference.
World Adoption Day encourages people to speak about adoption, share their stories and say “Family is everything, and every child deserves a family”.
We hope to see everybody get involved with this lovely occasion to help encourage more families to come forward to become adoptive parents.
If you have any stories that you would like to share, we’d love to hear them.