Adoptive Families (AF) magazine is the nation's leading publication for pre/post-adoptive families. AF is published bi-monthly and is a four-time winner of the Parent's Choice Award. AF magazine was acquired by New Hope Communications, LLC in February, 2001 and is now headed by Susan Caughman. Headquartered in New
York City, AF magazine has a growing subscriber base of almost 30,000.
Carrie Howard is a writer and editor who lives in the Seattle area. She and her husband have two daughters who were adopted internationally.
November is National Adoption Awareness Month
1- Write a letter to the editor whenever you see a positive or negative story concerning adoption. 2- Find an adult adoptee who would be willing to be a mentor for your child. Arrange for them to get together on a monthly basis.
3- Ask your local TV or radio station to broadcast a segment featuring a waiting child in your state
4- Rent a video that portrays adoption in a positive light for your family to watch and discuss. Try Immediate Family, Losing Isaiah, or Secrects and Lies
5- Plan craft activities or holiday ornaments incorporating designs from your child's heritage
6- Find out where your representatives at the state and national levels stand on adoption issues. Write them regarding your concerns.
7- Learn about positive adoption language. Send for the free Guide to Adoption Terminology, from NAC, 1930 17th St., NW, Washington, DC 20009, www.ncfa-usa.org.
8- Ask your library to feature adoption books in an attractive book display to commemorate National Adoption Awareness Month.
9- Send a tax deductible donation to your favorite adoption organization.
10- Invite local adoptive families to your home for hot chocolate and cookies. Announce the event in your community newspaper.
11- Start a scrapbook with your child. Talk about significant events as you record them together.
12- Donate a set of adoption books for children to your local elementary school.
13- Offer to read a story about adoption to your child's class at school. (Ask your child first!)
14- Do a presentation about adoption at a school faculty meeting. Volunteer for a school committee to review curriculum.
15- Send a thank you note to your child's teacher for allowing you to share adoption information. Send a copy to the principal.
16- Ask family members to write a letter to your child's birthmother. Read what each person wrote and discuss them together.
17- Attend one of the celebrations taking place in many states honoring children adopted from foster care.
18- Check the calendar at www.AdoptiveFamilies.com to see if there is a conference in your area. Attend if you can.
19- Pass along an adoption-related article or adoption-related item of interest to another adoptive parent or friend.
20- Ask your employer to feature a waiting child in the company newsletter. Promote the child in your community newspaper.
21- Get involved with an adoptive parent support group. Find one nearby on the Adoptive Families website, www.AdoptiveFamilies.com
22- Develop a family ritual to show your thanks for and to celebrate your family and the special way adoption brought you together.
23- As you plan Sunday dinner, choose one dish from your child's ethnic heritage to include in the meal.
24- Start a tradition of taking a family photograph each year on the same day so you can see how the family has changed.
25- Ask your church or temple to have a special service to give thanks for children.
26- Read an adoption story to your child.
27- Advocate for equitable adoption leave and benefits at your place of employment.
28- Together, light a candle in honor of your child's birthparents. Turn off the lights and hold hands as you watch the flames.
29- As a family, talk about what you know and what you don't know about your child's past.
30- Write an account of a local adoptive family that has done something significant for adoption and send it to the local newspaper.
Book Description: Proper attachment is the most fundamental issue in a successful adoption, but what exactly does the term mean? Attaching in Adoption answers that question thoroughly, and it provides solutions to a variety of specific attachment problems.
Review: When a child is adopted as a toddler, his needs and those of his adoptive family are different from the needs seen in infant or school-age adoptions. Yet few resources are available to deal with these special issues. In this work, Hopkins-Best, a child development expert and mother of a child adopted as a toddler, provides a guidebook for those considering toddler adoption or those already struggling with its special challenges
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Description: This is a good book to give to family & friends before they have an opportunity to stick their feet in their mouths. Another plus is that the author addresses families who adopt after infertility, gay & lesbian headed families, single-parent families, and interracial families.
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30 Ways to Celebrate Adoption
Attaching in Adoption: Practical Tools for Today's Parents
Toddler Adoption: The Weaver's Craft
