Adoption a two-way street of love, learning

CHRISTY TERRY

November 26, 2007 at 10:36AM AKST

For The Seward Phoenix Log

It always amazes me when I realize how many people I know whose lives have been positively impacted by adoption.

Not only am I blessed to have two wonderful children that were adopted, I also grew up in a family where my sister was adopted from Korea and my brother was an open adoption, where he was placed in my parents' arms at the moment of his birth. I cannot imagine my life without these individuals.

The stories of adoption are endless and well worth reviewing during November, Adoption Awareness Month.

Each adoption story is different. Sometimes there are elements of loss, months spent in a foreign country waiting for that special child, mountains of paperwork, children that have begun their lives with painful abuse or neglect, awkward meetings with birth families, but all end with the happiest ending of all – a forever family being united.

Adoption is not only about providing a home for a child who needs one but also about what adopted children have to teach us about understanding, patience and love.

November is the month to think of families and friends and to count our blessings.

If you have room in your heart and space in you family to consider adoption, you can look on the state of Alaska Website at www.hss.state.ak.us/ocs to visit some of the Alaskan children waiting to be adopted.

Another option in helping a child in need would be to consider foster care. Child services worker Allison Gottesman can be reached at allison.gottesman@alaska.gov , and can provide more information about foster care and adoption.

The Play and Chat Play Group will be hosting a adoption speaker at 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 28, downstairs at the library.

The state of Alaska and the Seward City Council both recognized Adoption Awareness Month.

The City Council dedicated the following proclamation on Nov. 13:

"Whereas, adoption is the permanency plan for approximately 847 children in Alaska; whereas, nearly all of these children have special needs because of physical, mental or emotional disabilities, because they must be placed as a sibling group, because they are minorities, or because they are school aged; whereas, in 2006, 226 children who have special needs were placed in adoptive families in Alaska; whereas, there are families able and willing to adopt children who have special needs; whereas, it is important to stress that a disability, low income or unmarried status does not preclude the right to adopt; and whereas, children waiting for adoptive parents, and families who have adopted these children, require and deserve community and public agency support: now, therefore, I, Mayor Clark Corbridge of the city of Seward do hereby proclaim the November 2007 as: Adoption Awareness Month.

"In honor of this event, I encourage citizens, community agencies, religious organizations, businesses, and others to celebrate adoption, honor families that grow through adoption, further an awareness of the changes and issues in adoption, and focus attention on those children who live in the shadow of an uncertain future while they await permanent families."

Christy Terry is Seward mother of four, two of who are adopted.