November is national adoption month

So, Dave Thomas, the founder of the Wendy's Fast Food Restaurant, was adopted when he was six weeks old. Drawing from his personal experience, he became a prominent spokesperson for adoption awareness. In 1992, ten years before his death, he created the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, which finds loving homes for children in the foster care system. November is National Adoption Month. Roughly 5 to 7 million Americans are adopted. Here to discuss this month is Jill Krumbacher. She's a Senior Vice President in Marketing and Development at the Foundation. Jill, thanks for joining us this morning. Great to be with you. Good morning. All right. So, Jill, you adopted a child as well. So, tell us about your experience here. I did. I adopted a couple of children and fostered. My family fostered nine children. And at the end of that process, we adopted a teen. We adopted a 17-year-old son on his birthday. We also adopted internationally, and we also have biological children. So I'm curious, what are some of the common misconceptions and myths people have about adoption? You know, there are a lot of misperceptions, particularly we find around foster care adoption. So foster care adoption, a lot of people think adoption is expensive. You hear that, right? And some types of adoption are expensive, but foster care adoption is not. In addition, we find that many people don't understand why a child is in foster care. They think perhaps Perhaps the child has done something. When that's not the case, these children are just like any other child, but they've had a hard start in life. Perhaps something in their parent's situation is not allowing them to be at home. So really, the children are just like anyone else's child. You know, one thing I think I've heard in the past is they're worried about, you know. Especially with older children that they're worried about, you know, maybe they have some issues that it's going to be hard for them to change or the parent, being able to parent them when they foster or adopt these children. What do you say to those people who are concerned about these things? You know, we have just found, and myself, I adopted a 17-year-old son, right? We have found that these children, even though they've had a hard start, there is such great resources out in the community to help them get through that. You know, things like great counselors help them get through that trauma and loss that they have experienced. And once you get through that That process, those children, and even during, they're just looking for someone to love them and to never leave. That's all they want. Why do we observe National Adoption Month and what does it mean for the kids in foster care right now? We observe National Adoption Months really just to celebrate adoption and really all kinds of adoption. But in particular, we want to highlight the children in the United States who are waiting to be adopted. So these are children who've entered the foster care system. And for whatever reason, a judge has decided that they won't be able to go home. The goal is reunification. I want to hear your thoughts. What do you want viewers to know who might be interested in fostering or adopting? You know, I would say one great place to start is to go to DaveThomasFoundation.org, and we have a free resource. It's free to download, and it's a guide to adoption, all kinds. Um, including foster care adoption, it'll take you through what steps you need to go through. And you'll see in there that in particularly for foster care adoption, contacting your county or state child welfare office, um, the department of children and families is the best place to start. They have informational meetings, you know, no commitment, just go and listen and learn a little. Joe Kronbacher of the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption. A good reminder here that there are many kids out there looking for a home, and you might be able to provide that to them. Joe, thank you so much. We appreciate it. Thank you. All right. It's 19 minutes after 7. Let's have a...