This week, we're celebrating the nomination of Mike and Kim Adams for the Angels in Adoption Award by South Dakota Senator, John Thune. Senator Thune is a member of the Congressional Coalition on Adoption, an organization dedicated to supporting legislation that improves the lives of children without families. The Angels in Adoption Award honors those who advocate for adoption and child welfare. Senator Thune nominated Mike and Kim not only because they are adoptive parents. But also because they continue to serve children through their foundation and outreach programs in Ethiopia.

 

You may know that Adams Thermal Foundation operates schools for the "poorest of the poor" in Ethiopia. But did you know that it all started with adoption? In 2007, Mike and Kim began discussing the idea of growing their family through adoption and by 2014, they had adopted 4 children, 3 girls and one boy from both Ethiopia and Uganda. It was through their relationship with the adoption agency, Children's Home Society and Family Services of Minnesota (CHSFS), that the opportunity was presented to support two schools in Hosanna and Ottoro, Ethiopia. When CHSFS was forced to pull out of Ethiopia in 2013 due to the ban on child adoptions, they asked Mike and Kim if they would consider taking over the schools in order to keep them from closing. The rest, as they say, is history. Thank you, Senator Thune, for the nomination of our founders and for your advocacy of adoption! 

 

The Congressional Coalition on Adoption is the foremost caucus dedicated to supporting legislation that improves  the lives of children. It has consistently been the voice for the needs of children without families, both in the  United States and around the world. The caucus is deeply committed to bipartisanship, and brings together  Democrats and Republicans with the shared goal of improving the lives of children by uniting to ensure that all  children know the love and support of a family through legal permanency in the forms of adoption, guardianship  and kinship care.

 

The Angels in Adoption® Program allows Members of Congress and their staff to learn first-hand about adoption and foster care efforts taking place within their state and across the country. The Angel Honorees have the opportunity to travel to D.C. to meet with congressional offices and other child welfare advocates to hone their advocacy skills, share their experience and expertise, and leave feeling empowered to continue on their good work and inspire others to do so as well. The program also draws national and local media attention to raise public awareness about the positive difference adoption and fostering makes in the life of a child.