November has been recognized as National Adoption Month in the U.S. since 1995.
As a gay dad and award-winning children’s book author, Tom Tracy is deeply and personally connected to adoption. He and his husband Elliott have adopted two daughters through domestic, private adoption. The girls are now 6 years old and 15 months old.
In honor of this year’s National Adoption Month, Tom has partnered with Hindi’s Libraries, a New York-based international literary nonprofit, to host a virtual book drive. They have curated a list of books with themes of family, adoption, inclusion, and diversity. To support this drive, you can purchase new books to donate through an Amazon Charity Wishlist. All books purchased from their list will be donated to TWO very worthy organizations supporting families participating in the adoption process: All About Love Adoptions, a Pennsylvania-based, gay-friendly adoption agency committed to strengthening families and supporting those touched by adoption & the Junior League of Rockford, IL
Tom has written the illustrated children’s book, Scoochie’s Adoption Story, which is about his own family’s experience with adoption. Tom’s oldest daughter serves as the inspiration for the main character, Scoochie. The book has earned multiple children’s book awards and is a nominee in the Lambda Literary 2022 Book Award Competition. Tom and his family have been featured on CBSPhilly news and in SJMagazine, where they have told their story and hope to inspire others to tell theirs. Scoochie’s Adoption Story was also positively received and reviewed by the Rainbow Roundtable of the American Library Association who had this to say:
“Scoochie’s Adoption Story gets so much right that other adoption books don’t come close to. It opens with a dedication to the author’s children’s birth moms, showing kids that birth mothers should be revered and appreciated. This is something that isn’t often captured in media depictions of adoption but that is very important for adopted children. Healthy messages abound in this book, and the straightforward story and Paw Patrol-like illustrations ensure that kids will engage with the book long enough to receive them.”
Scoochie’s Adoption Story is just one book that is available for purchase donation through the National Adoption Month book drive. Tom has personally connected with multiple children’s authors, including Leslea Newman of Heather has Two Mommies, for their support and inclusion of their books in the campaign as well. Because of the collective efforts of these authors, the campaign is using #Authors4Adoption for all their campaign social media posts. The Dave Thomas Foundation has also agreed to help promote this campaign to raise adoption awareness.
To learn more about the campaign, please visit here.
