Subject: Suggesting names for Angels in Adoption Awards

Ok..so I am pasting here a step by step plan to nominate people for the Angels in Adoption Award. Not for nothing, but some of the past people who have been honored..well let’s just say I might not use the word angel when applying to them.
Officailly, form the website the program is:
Angels in Adoption™ Program

The Angels in Adoption™ Program, CCAI’s signature public awareness program, which provides an opportunity to all members of the U.S. Congress to honor the good work of their constituents who have enriched the lives of foster children and orphans. This program includes an annual event in Washington, D.C., the Angels in Adoption™ gala, which is geared toward highlighting ordinary people doing extraordinary things. These “unsung heroes” are selected by members of the U.S. Congress.

In addition to these “unsung heroes” chosen from all 50 states and the District of Columbia, “National Angels” are recognized for their adoption and foster care advocacy on a broader, nationwide scale. Former “National Angels” include notables such as Victoria Rowell, Muhammad Ali, Dave Thomas, Steven Curtis Chapman, and Bruce Willis. This year, more than 190 members of congress participated, making it the year’s single most significant Congressional event pertaining to child welfare in the United States.

Personally I can think that someone like Sapph/Heartened..who has tirelessly worked this past year at SoA and taken some hard knocks and no pay to boot, has been way more of an Angel to many adoptees and parents than some agency bigwig or someone else who has the means from fame to go all off and be “good”.

Anyway…I think it is a good thing to name some people of our “own” and get those legislators heads thinking outside the box. Anyone want to play this with me???

It’s time to start taking action to suggest naming of possible Angels in Adoption ’07

Here’s a plan for submitting suggestions to federal lawmakers for people you think are deserving of receiving the honor of being named an Angel in Adoption.

GAME PLAN

Start gathering letters of support (4-5) for the person you’d like to see named an Angel in Adoption by her or his representative or senator. It’s a good idea to have people write the letters now. While they are working on the letters, you can research to whom they should be addressed.

Go to www.vote-smart. org and enter the person’s 9-digit ZIP code for their HOME address. If you don’t know THAT little tidbit, go to www.USPS.com, click on “ZIPcode finder” and follow the yellow brick road.

Go back to vote-smart 🙂 and enter that 9-digit number in the “find a legislator” (or similar wording) window. Now you will know the contact information for your (hopeful) Angel’s Members of Congress (representative and two Senators). We suggest printing out the page and hanging onto it.

Call the senator or representative’ s district (in-state) office first and ask 1) for an aide who deals with adoption/children’ s issues. Ask him or her 2) if s/he know about the Angels in Adoption program and if the answer is no, tell them about it after reading about it yourself. (See URL/web address at the top of this message). Ask for his/her email address and send them the URL. The person may ask you to call the D.C. office of the lawmaker; do so, and ask the same questions.

If the lawmaker already knows about the Angels program, ask 3) if s/he has chosen someone for ‘06. The likelihood is “no” because the information/ invitation to nominate a constituent has not yet gone out from the office of the Congressional Coalition on Adoption. It usually goes out in May or early June. Talk with the aide about it and say you are working to gather letters for someone you feels deserves to be so honored. Get the aide’s name; you will already have the address and know whether the letters will go to the district or D.C. Office.

Once you know the person’s Representative/ Senator whose aide expresses an interest in receiving the information/ letters of support from you, you can pass on that name and address to your letter-writers. The legislator will read the cover letter and the letters of support, so they MUST ALL be addressed to her/him, not to the aide. (Include a handwritten or typed personal note to the aide in your packet, as s/he will be doing most of the work on this.)

Tell your letter-writers to inside-address the letter to the lawmaker at the appropriate office and to MAIL THE LETTER TO YOU because you will gather them and send them all together. Give them a deadline 🙂 that will give YOU time to write one or two paragraphs explaining why the person is (should be named as an) an Angel in Adoption. Try to include at least one sentence from each letter so if it happens that one of the letter-writers goes to the banquet with the Angel s/he will realize that his/her letter was important. Each one of them IS important.

Collect the letters and include a cover letter addressed to the lawmaker and a page with the (hopeful) Angel’s contact information (home street address, phone #s, faxes, email address) AND the descriptive paragraph/s mentioned above (250-300) and send them c/o the right aide (so the same person gets them all). ALSO, please EMAIL the contact information and descriptive paragraphs page to the aide. (The congressional office will be filling in this information on a limited-access web site for this express purpose, and if you email the contact info and paragraph/s (as well as snail mail it) it will be easier for the aide to cut-and-paste it rather than typing it over.)

I suggest sending the packet with everything in it to the aide by CERTIFIED mail so it must be signed for.

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