November Is National Adoption Month

Originally Posted on Fri, 11/16/2012 - 2:54pm

There are many ways to form a family, whether by birth, by marriage or civil union, foster care, or by adoption. For people who choose to bring a child into their lives through adoption, many would undoubtedly say that adopting a child is one of life’s most loving and nurturing acts. To create a loving, safe home for a newborn, a toddler, or older child who needs one can be one of life’s great rewards—for both the parents the children.

To help raise awareness of the need for adoptive families and encourage citizens to become involved in the lives of children and youth in foster care, the President of the United States (as well as many state governors) issues a proclamation to announce National Adoption Month every year in November. National Adoption Day this year is November 17.

The road to adoption can take many routes—domestic or international, open or closed, by marriage or union, interracial or same race, and more. It can be a lengthy, time-consuming process and somewhat daunting so it’s important to have a strong support network and a trusted adoption attorney to help. Most people work through adoption facilitators, attorneys, and adoption agencies that will help match prospective parents with children, expedite paperwork, and help navigate the process.

SensitiviTees has some designs to celebrate adoptive families as well as some valuable information below to help families begin the adoption process.

Domestic adoption

The website www.adoption.com is chock full of resources, articles, links, and information about all topics related to adoption. Here are some resources listed there:

• AdoptionNetworking.com - powerful adoption networking tool for hopeful adoptive parents that lets you easily enlist the assistance of your friends and family to help you find and adoption opportunity.
• ParentProfiles.com, a service of Adoption Profiles, LLC, the world's most effective registry of hopeful adoptive parents.
• AdoptionRisks.org - a free online evaluation of the risks in your adoption.
• AdoptionSecrets.com - secrets for adoption success for members of ParentProfiles.com.

International adoption

In addition to meeting certain U.S. government requirements, individuals and couples wishing to adopt internationally must meet specific criteria of each particular country. Requirements about age, gender, income, number of children already in the home, and marital status are generally shared among nations but some have unique and somewhat unusual stipulations, including long-term residencies in country, strict age limits, or restrictions for single parents. Be sure to consult an expert in international adoption.

We will share more information about other adoption issues in future posts. In the meantime, you can explore the adoption.com site or go to

http://www.childwelfare.gov/index.cfm (from the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services). For anyone embarking on this journey of love, we wish you well!

You can purchase any of our designs (above) by logging on to our website: www.SensitiviTees.com