This November Joint Council will be participating in National Adoption Month in an unprecedented and unique way. Everyday in November, we will be highlighting the stories of those children throughout the world who have yet to be served by adoption, celebrate those children who have thrived in their adoptive family, and ask individuals to take small actions everyday to help children in need.
From today September 13, 2010 through October 15, 2010 Joint Council will be accepting stories from professionals, families and other concerned individuals who have seen the plight of children who live outside of family care and those who have gained permanency, safety and love through adoption. To submit a story, follow the directions below. The advocacy campaign will be one part of of Joint Council’s larger National Adoption Month Campaign, which hopes to encourage individuals to Be The Answer to the world orphan crisis. The idea from the campaign was generated by Joint Council staff following this post in last month’s Mbali’s Message and the Be The Answer blog.
Directions for submitting a story:
- Email the story of a child who has yet to be served through adoption and/or a story of a child who has thrived in his/her adoptive family to Jason Cohn at betheanswer@jointcouncil.org by October 15, 2010
- Stories may be:
- Three minute video
- 750 words, please include photos of yourself and the child
- If applicable, please include a release of information for each story submitted.
- If the child highlighted is living outside of family care, individuals are encouraged to use a pseudonym for the child and send photos with discretion and with the child’s safety in mind.
- Stories may be:
- Questions regarding the campaign and submitting stories should be directed to betheanswer@jointcouncil.org
Joint Council looks forward to the community participating in this advocacy effort.
betheanswerforchildren.wordpress.com 
Hi there
Just a quick question. I submitted a story for this campaign, along with no doubt many, many others. I’m just wondering how we will know if our story is being used, and in what form? Will it be placed on the website, or will it be utilised in some other way?
Best wishes
Farah
Farah – every Friday we’ll be emailing the people who submitted the stories that will be posted the next week. So, if your story will be part of next week, you will receive an email tomorrow. We will be posting the stories on this blog and linking our website, Facebook and Twitter back to this blog. Please let us know if you have any other questions! Thanks for submitting a story!
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This weekend I watched my children, thinking that their strength is unbelievable! Alex, age 14, playing offense on his travel soccer team, going for the goal with a huge smile, knowing he would score. Vera, age 11, playing defense for her travel soccer team. The game she played this weekend was for the CT state cup final. Ruslan, age 12, began playing ice hockey this year. He scored his first goal today. I watched each of their games with pride, and admiration for their strength, energy and their will to survive. Five years ago, these three were adopted from an orphanage in rural Russia. This orphanage had been their home for over 5 years. They are strong, proud, healthy, wonderful children and along with my husband, we are a family.