November is National Adoption Awareness Month (there had to be one) and November 17 is National Adoption Day in North America.Here's some history on the month from adopting.org:
The first major effort to promote awareness of the need for adoptive families for children in the foster care system occurred in Massachusetts. In 1976, then-Governor Mike Dukakis proclaimed Adoption Week and the idea grew in popularity and spread throughout the nation. President Gerald Ford made the first National Adoption Week proclamation, and in 1990, the week was expanded to a month due to the number of states participating and the number of events.
During the month, states, communities, public and private organizations, businesses, families, and individuals celebrate adoption as a positive way to build families. Across the nation, activities and observances such as recognition dinners, public awareness and recruitment campaigns, and special events spotlight the needs of children who need permanent families. It also includes National Adoption Day, traditionally a Saturday, which is observed in courthouses across the nation as hundreds of adoptions are finalized simultaneously. Read more here.
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And here's some info from the Adoption Council of Canada: http://www.adoption.ca/news/november.htm
Celebrate Adoption Awareness Month - this is a calendar of activities you can do to promote adoption awareness.
Elle has assigned a color to the month - purple! - one of my favorite colors (I've been called Purple Haze for many many years, of course). Thanks to chou squared for posting about Elle and her great button that I am proud to display. You can get the button on Elle's blog.
If you haven't already, I encourage you bloggers (adopting or not) to go purple for the month too! I kind of like the way it looks.
