Teen Mom star Farrah Abraham is no stranger to her share of controversy, but this time she’s making news for all the right reasons — by starting an important national conversation on Instagram.
In honor of #WorldAdoptionDay on Nov. 9, Abraham posted a stirring message to her Instagram followers just two days ago:
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For fans of the Teen Mom who have been rooting her on as the underdog since her season began in 2009, the news that Abraham wants to adopt comes as a big surprise. In all her screen time and social media activity over the past six years, the reality star has not mentioned expanding her happy little family of two through adoption. Abraham, who recently split from boyfriend Simon Saran, believes that she and her 6-year-old daughter, Sophia, can use adoption to make a difference in the world.
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Abraham drops some hard statistics in her Instagram post, and she makes an excellent point. Awareness campaigns like World Adoption Day exist because the growing number of children who need a family is something we don’t really feel comfortable talking about. Abraham points out that there are more than 145 million orphans around the world, and right here in the U.S., close to 400,000 children are living in foster care without a permanent home, according to statistics from the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute.
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When you compare that to the estimated 7,000 children adopted by U.S. families in 2012, many from countries like the Ukraine, Ethiopia and China, the American adoption attitude is merely a drop in the bucket. But the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption provides a clear solution to the problem, based on its latest National Adoption Attitudes Survey: 40 percent of American adults have considered adoption. If just 1 out of 500 of these adults adopted, every child eligible for adoption in foster care (estimated at 114,000 kids) would have a permanent family.
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Abraham has never been accused of being a go-with-the-flow kind of gal, but in her latest Instagram post, she’s actually bringing up a national topic that’s critically important. Abraham has already grown into her role as a young mom and wants to share the love with another child who may not have a parent. More and more parents are choosing to build their families in this nontraditional way, by adopting after having biological children, because they too feel that tug on their heart to adopt. For parents like Abraham, who are considering expanding their family, the National Council for Adoption has general resources available.
The unspoken rule for living life as a reality TV star is that haters are going to hate, but you can’t knock Abraham for bringing awareness to — and possibly participating in — a great cause. Only time will tell if Abraham makes good on her word and brings another child into her family through adoption. But at the very least, we can give her credit for opening her heart to her fans and encouraging more social awareness.
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