For the month of November, the Adoptive Family Association of British Columbia want to bring awareness to the amount of adoptive families across the province.
If you stop and think about it, there's a good chance you know somebody who is adopted, or who has adopted.
Among many events, Prince George families held a Donate-to-Skate, where they set up a table during public skating where families could come and skate by donation.
"The event went really well, all the events we did throughout the month achieved what we wanted, and that's awareness," said Cheryl Piddocke, the Prince George AFABC Adoption Support co-ordinator.
"We got lots of questions throughout the day and that's great. Then you have lots of people who say they have a cousin who is adopted or they want to adopt, so it's good to get out in the community and let people know what's going on."
She said it's important to realize that adoptive families are just like any other families and having November as the Adoptive Families Awareness month gives the AFABC time to get the community involved. It's important for people to remember there are a lot of school-aged children who have been adopted, she added.
"In schools especially, where kids get assignments to make their family tree and those type of activities. We want people to be sensitive to adoptive families," she said.
They also held tables in the library and the hospital, and even donated the regional adoption library to the Prince George Public Library.
"The problem is, there are a lot of children on the waiting list with the Ministry, but there are just not enough social workers available to move through the paperwork and check up," said Piddocke.
To tackle this challenge, British Columbia has started a pilot project to match families to children. They set up a video conference, where all the potential families gather in different cities across the province, and get to see profiles - including pictures and sometimes video - of the children who are on the ministry wait list.
They've done this once before, and it was really successful, said Piddocke, adding they are about to have a second one soon.
There has also been a strong campaign this year to raise awareness about the adoption of teenagers.
"People often forget that you can adopt a teen, and it's really important that they find homes. After they turn 19 they are no longer supported by the government.
"This means they have no one to walk through life with them, no where to go for Christmas," said Piddocke.
For more information on adoption within the ministry, contact the Prince George office at 250-561-4593.
