Ad Council, HHS and AdoptUsKids launch campaign to encourage Hispanics to adopt children.

The Advertising Council, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Administration for Children and Families (ACF) and the Collaboration to AdoptUsKids, announced the launch of a comprehensive campaign designed to encourage Spanish-speaking families and individuals to consider adoption from the U.S. foster care system.

The new multi-media campaign includes Spanish television, radio, and print PSAs, and issues a national call-to-action for parents to adopt children by offering important, accurate information to the Hispanic community about the foster care system and the adoption process. The campaign emphasizes the message that families or individuals can achieve a sense of fulfillment by adopting a child through foster care. It also aims to significantly increase awareness of the need to provide loving, permanent families for children in the foster care system.

“We are so pleased to be working with the Administration for Children and Families on this touching campaign that has inspired thousands of Americans to consider adopting a child from foster care,” according to Peggy Conlon, President & CEO of The Advertising Council. “I am confident that this new campaign will remind the Hispanic community that there are everyday rewards with adopting a child and providing them with a loving home.”

According to the Administration for Children and Families, approximately 300,000 children in the United States enter the foster care system each year. There are currently 514,000 children in the foster care system and, of these, approximately 115,000 are available for adoption. Each year, more than 24,000 of these children “age out” of the system without ever having been placed with permanent, loving families to support them in the transition to adulthood. The majority of children in foster care are of children of color; 15% of the children waiting to be adopted are Hispanic.

“Our family felt a need to add another child into our loving home after realizing so many children were waiting to be adopted,” says Ms. Alejandra Melendez. “Now we feel a sense of fulfillment and encourage Hispanic families to open their hearts and homes and seriously consider adopting a child in foster care. Together we can help the many children in the system who need a permanent loving home.”

Created pro bono by ad agency REVOLUCION, the new PSAs highlight the emotional and psychological rewards of adoption through foster care by showcasing everyday, yet special family moments. The ads end with the
poignant message, “Complete a Life. Complete Your Own.”

“Traditionally, adoption messaging has been focused on creating an emotional connection to the children,” said Federico Mejer, General Manager of REVOLUCION. “However, the adoption experience is extraordinarily
powerful for the adoptive parents, and we felt that the most compelling, motivating approach to promote adoptions among Latinos is to focus on that sense of fulfillment and completeness an adoptive parent feels.”