5-7pm
D.A. Blodgett – St. John’s (DABSJ) will mark National Adoption Awareness Month in November with Images of Adoption, an open house for those who would like to learn more about becoming an adoptive parent. The agency will host Images of Adoption at DABSJ located at 805 Leonard St., N.E., from 5 – 7 p.m. on Nov 10.
“The focus of National Adoption Month is on the thousands of children who are in foster care and are awaiting permanent loving homes,” said DABSJ President and CEO Jim Paparella. “At any given time, 3,000 children are available for adoption in Michigan, at the Images of Adoption event you can learn about 16 local children waiting for a forever home. The vast majority of children placed through our programs were removed from their homes due to abuse and neglect,he continued.”
Finding homes for older children and sibling groups is a special area of focus. “When people think ‘adoption,’ the picture that often comes to mind is of a healthy new born baby,” said Joy Engelsman, adoption program manager at DABSJ. “The challenge we face is finding forever families for all of the children who need and deserve loving homes. This includes toddlers, teens, sibling groups, medically fragile children and children who have suffered such deep trauma that the emotional and physical scars have not healed.”
Images of Adoption is free and open to the public, RSVP is not needed. Adoption workers and adoptive parents will be on hand to answer questions about adoption. For more information, call (616) 451-2021 or visit www.dabsj.org.
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