Happy National Adoption Day

As someone who was adopted, I want to share and celebrate National Adoption Day with everyone!

National Adoption Day is an annual effort to raise awareness of all the children nationally waiting in foster care to be adopted and find their permanent forever families.

As a child who was adopted, I can say without question that I would not be where I am today without having been adopted before I was even a year old. I've been blessed to have found a loving and caring family so quickly.

I was a baby with an uncertain future, and I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that Vernon and Donna Moller saved my life 30 years ago. They are my family. I think there is a thought that without a blood relation you may not be true family, but that couldn't be further from the truth. I actually have a tattoo on my arm which reads "It is not flesh and blood, but the heart which makes us fathers and sons." I am truly blessed to have the family I do.

Not everyone is as lucky as I am, though. There are more than 117,000 children in the United States waiting in foster care to be adopted. According to NationalAdoptionDay.org, the average wait time for a child to wait in foster care to be adopted is three years. The more startling statistic is that more than 20,000 children age out of the foster system without a family. That's 20,000 kids that grow up with nowhere to go and no one to rely on.

That's 20,000 children. Just think about that. It's staggering.

National Adoption Day is responsible for thousands of children finalizing adoptions and finding families. According to NationalAdoptionDay.org, more than 5,000 children were adopted last year on National Adoption Day which is celebrated annually on the Saturday before Thanksgiving. Could there possibly, be a better time for these kids to find families? Right before the holidays, and these kids then get to enjoy holiday family dinners and get a brand new start.

To date, 70,000 children have been adopted on this day since it began in back in 2000. If you have the ability and the means, please consider adoption.