May 30, 2013
10 Reasons Why You Should Be Proud to Be Involved With Adoption
Every day we are inspired by all the individuals adoption gives us the opportunity to meet and get to know. And after years being a part of this world, we’ve come to a very definite conclusion: no matter how you are connected to the industry – be you a birth parent, adoptive parent, adoptee, foster parent, social worker or adoption agency – you are working miracles every single day. It’s nice to have a reminder, though. So here are 10 reasons why we think YOU should be proud to be involved with adoption.
1. You are a living, breathing example of the power of love. Whether you’ve placed a child for adoption, adopted a child, gained a family through adoption, or helped create a family through adoption, you embody love with everything you do, and there is nothing more in this world that we need than love.
2. You are brave. Adoption, no matter how beautiful the payoff, does not come without its hardships.
And you have undoubtedly encountered many.
3. Sacrifice. You know what it’s like to sacrifice. To endure situations where the unexpected becomes reality, to navigate highs and lows, and to do everything you can for the sake of family.
4. Knowledge. When you become part of the adoption world, you automatically become an advocate for adoption, spreading awareness of its power and goodness. There are still so many in this world who don’t fully understand what adoption is, and your advocacy, simply by being involved, is priceless.
5. You are a fighter. Adoption is a fight. It’s a fight to have a child, it’s a fight to figure out what’s best for your child, it’s a fight to be a child in a family society may see as unconventional. Your fighting spirit makes you more powerful than you know.
6. You make family possible. There are so many people in this world, children and otherwise, who do not have a family. Or if they do, who do not have the loving, supportive family they could. To create that for yourself or someone else is an incredible gift.
7. Trust. Trust is not an easy thing to come by in this world. But to be a part of the adoption world you have to put unbelievable trust in yourself and people you do not even know. Talk to everyone you know who has trust issues. This is an incredible feat.
8. Giving. Do you know how many people go through this world without a sense of what it is to give to another? When you are involved in the adoption world you give every bit of your heart, body and soul. If everyone in the world gave like birth mothers and foster parents and adoptive families did, think of the goodness we could do.
9. Humor. How astonishingly awesome is your sense of humor now?
10. Self. To be part of the adoption world you have to have an incredible sense of self. People spend whole lives running away from who they are, and as birth parents and adoptive parents and adoptees you stand up and allow yourselves to be deeply analyzed, judged on conditional, surface facts about your life, and constantly forced to share who you are, why you want to love and the sacrifices you are willing to make. This, above all, is what allows you to be so incredible, so special, so inspiring to others. Because you’re you. Without you, our world would be so different. You are adoption.