Have you ever thought about adopting a child? If so, you're not alone. According to the National Adoption Attitudes Survey, nearly 40 percent (4 in 10) of American adults, or 81.5 million people, have considered adopting a child.1 National Adoption Month is a great time to explore your options.
November is National Adoption Month—a time for spreading awareness to sign up and hold onto foster and adoptive parents for our Nation's waiting children. Right now, there are about 70 million family households in the United States and 126,000 children in need of adoption.2 More than half of the waiting children are children of color, older children, and brothers and sisters who want to stay together. This means that it would take less than 1 percent of the American population to give every child a home.3
Since 1990, National Adoption Month has been observed in the United States. Its roots can be traced back more than 25 years when, in 1976, the Governor of Massachusetts first proclaimed Adoption Week. Later that year, President Gerald Ford made it official. It eventually became a tradition to celebrate Adoption Week in November and as awareness and participation grew, so did the number of States proclaiming the observance.
National Adoption Week became National Adoption Month in 1990. Today, National Adoption Month is celebrated in November throughout the United States. Its purpose is to provide national awareness, celebrate children and families, and call the Nation to action to ensure safety, permanency and well-being for all of our children.
The theme of this year's National Adoption Month 2003 Campaign, "There's No Place Like Your Home," pushes families across America to open their hearts and homes to children in need of foster care or adoption. The slogan makes the point that every child in need of foster care or adoption needs a place to call home—and every American family offers hope to a child in need. But adopting a child does more than give him a place to call home. Good parent-child relationships can help youth stay mentally healthy and drug free.
You can start by checking out these online resources:
You also may want to call your local social services agency to find out about children in your community who may need a permanent, loving home. During National Adoption Month, you can look for activities and observances, such as recognition dinners, public awareness and recruitment campaigns, and special events, which spotlight the needs of children who need permanent families.
Sources
1 Administration for Children and Families, October 2003.
2 Ibid.
3 Ibid.
Adoption Statistics |
| Number of children waiting to be adopted (as of September 30, 2001):* | 126,000 |
| Gender of waiting children: | Male: 53% (66,175)
Female: 47% (59,825)
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| Age of waiting children on September 30, 2001: | Less than 1: 3% (4,206)
1-5: 32% (40,848)
6-10: 32% (40,648)
11-15: 28% (34,724)
16-18: 4% (5,573)
|
| Racial/ethnicity of waiting children: | AI/AN Non-Hispanic: 2% (2,146)
Asian Non-Hispanic: 0% (484)
Black Non-Hispanic: 45% (56,306)
Hawaiian/PI Non-Hispanic: 0% (400)
Hispanic: 12% (15,253)
White Non-Hispanic: 34% (42,913)
Unknown/Unable to Determine: 4% (5,602)
Two or More Races Non-Hispanic: 2% (2,895)
|
Source: Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS) data submitted for the FY 2001, 10/1/00 through 9/30/01. Preliminary FY 2001 Estimates as of March 2003 (8).
*Waiting children are identified as children who have a goal of adoption and/or whose parental rights have been terminated. Children age 16 and older whose parental rights have been terminated and who have a goal of emancipation have been excluded from the estimate.
AFCARS report
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