Celebrating 40 years in Adoption
Excerpts from Adopt International's Executive Director, Lisa Clark's presentation to guest attending Adopt International's Annual Date Night gathering and fundraiser.
40 years. So much to be grateful for and so much reflection. How many things have changed. How we have gotten better. Its been fun looking back and inspiring us to look forward.
For those of you that were here last year and remember my story about getting a hospital call the day before Date Night when I was running around getting wine, I want to give you a mini update. It was a bit of a wild ride for a few weeks, maybe months. I want to welcome the family who rode that ride and ended up with the gift of parenting that little one and the gift of having a really beautiful open adoption. Welcome to your first Date Night.
I recently read an article about adoption and the headline was something about how adoptive families are like special needs families. My immediate reaction was to get pissed. How dare they pathologize our kids and families. Same old crap about adoptees. But then I actually read the article and it was talking about the additional things that we need.
And when I reflect on our last 40 years I actually agree with the article more than not. We need the people in this room. We need each other. We need a community. It is one of the ways our agency has changed the most over the last 40 years. Our growth in community building and clear need for connection…or as the adoption people would say “post adoption services”. We have a clearer understanding of our need for one another and that we can’t do this alone. Our kids need to be connected, we need to be connected.
~ Lisa Clark, LCSW, MSW, Executive Director, Adopt International
** The 2024 National Adoption Month theme is “Adoption Promotes Strong Futures,” a tagline that highlights the success and happiness those who were adopted experience throughout their life. Use the free graphics, meeting background, sample posts, and sample email messages available in the outreach toolkit and show your support for National Adoption Month this November.
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If you found this article useful, you might also find this useful: Celebration National Adoption Month with our First Families, What is open adoption?
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