Answering the call

 

By Nathan Key, News-Topic Managing Editor

Adopting children is becoming more and more common across the country, and November is a month set aside to promote adoption and raise awareness about it through National Adoption Month.

The month highlights the process of adoptions - domestically, internationally and from foster care - and shows the need for adoptive parents. It's an effort to focus on children who need families.

“It's about making people aware,” said Doris Woodward, social work supervisor for Matthews-based Christian Adoption Services. “People are not educated enough about adoption. It's not something foreign. It's a beautiful thing.”

National Adoption Month was initiated as Adoption Week in 1976 by Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis. Soon thereafter, President Gerald Ford nationalized the week-long commemoration. In 1990, the week was expanded to a month because of the large number of participating states.

National Adoption Month also focuses on families looking to raise children. They could be doing so because they face fertility issues or simply because they have a desire to bring more children into their home and provide them with love and support.

There are a number of women, and even some couples, choosing to place children - newborns and older - for adoption, and the reasons they do so are many.

Pairing those birth parents with adoptive families is what adoption agencies and Social Services departments seek to do.

“It's not always easy for a mother to do; it's a sacrifice, but it's what's best for the child,” Woodward said. “Children need stability, and (adoption) is a way of providing that. It's emotional, physical, spiritual - it's the need to look beyond today and think about tomorrow.”

Often, myths surrounding adoption deter some would-be parents from wanting to take part in the process. Some of those include being separated from the child after becoming attached, emotional problems with the child and overzealous birth parents, to name a few.

While there are risks involved with adoption, the rewards are even greater for those families who receive placement and are able to raise a child, especially those with fertility issues who may have thought they never would have a chance to be parents.

Bill Griffin and his wife DeeDee chose adoption and were blessed with a son, Gabriel, in February 2005.

“(Adoption) has given us the opportunity to have a son, and he is absolutely the most wonderful thing we've ever experienced in our lives,” Bill Griffin said. “We believe in adoption, not only for us, but for other parents receiving a child and the child's well-being. It's been the best thing that has ever happened to us. It's an amazing thing.”

National Adoption Day also falls during November. It is celebrated the Saturday before Thanksgiving each year and raises awareness about children waiting in foster care for permanent families. It will be celebrated Nov. 17 this year.

According to a 2000 U.S. Census Bureau report, more than 2 percent of the children in the United States (2.6 million) are adopted, and one of six are of a different race than the family that adopts him/her.

Nearly 13 percent of adopted children are from foreign countries like China, Russia, Poland and the Philippines as international adoption grows in popularity.

Woodward said adoption is something people need not be frightened by or have reservations about. It's the joining of people to make life better for all involved.

“Adoption really is a beautiful thing for all three parties involved - the child, the birth family and the adoptive family,” she said. “I just wish more people would be mindful of adoption.”

For more information about National Adoption Month or adoption in general, contact the Caldwell County Department of Social Services at 828-426-8200, or Christian Adoption Services at 704-847-0038 or on the Web at www.christianadopt.org

Tags: Adoption by Country, Adoption by State, china adoption, Ethiopia Adoption