National Adoption Month

It's National Adoption Month!

Nationwide, 30,000 adolescents age out of the foster care system yearly. According to the Child Welfare League of America, 25% are homeless, 56% are unemployed, 27% of males end up in jail and 30% of females have children of their own shortly after aging out.

This map shows the number of children available for adoption and the number of churches in each state. if just one family from each church adopts one child, there wouldn't be enough children. These statistics blow my mind.

I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. John 14:18

You don't have to foster or adopt to help children in care. There are many ways you can help. You can help families who do foster or adopt by being a shoulder to lean on, a child''s mentor or respite worker, or you can help in tangible ways like mowing their lawn or preparing a meal when they're going through a hard time with one or more of their children. You can visit websites to find other ideas, like here.

Defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed.
Psalm 82:3

Angels in Adoption trip to Washington, DC

We met Congressman Donald Norcross at a community event last November. He nominated me as an Angel in Adoption and I was chosen for the honor for NJ. People or organizations are chosen from each state.
It was wonderful to meet other people in the foster care/adoption arena and talking with others who have a heart for foster children and orphans and a passion to give them a permanent, stable family. It was also wonderful to meet the interns working for CCAI, the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute. They were all in "the system" at one time, many had aged out of foster care. When the children were asked to share what they loved most about the Angels events, my son Daniel brought tears to people's eyes when he said his favorite part was meeting the interns and seeing that they are successful and doing positive things in the world and not just another negative statistic.
On day 1, we checked in and met people from different agencies to learn what they do to help children. Then, we were given a walking tour of the Capitol Building and a bus tour of the city. The day ended with a dessert social.

On day 2, we attended the Congressional lunch and chatted with Congressman Norcross. I received my Angels pin. Then, we visited Arlington Cemetery where we watched the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and saw the eternal flame at JFK's grave site.

I could not attend day 3 activities as I had court to begin my littlest one's adoption. I did attend the gala that evening with my oldest son.

It was a blessing and an honor to be chosen as an Angel in Adoption and meet so many wonderful people.