Kudos to Family and Children's Services of Waterloo region for this outstanding video on adopting children:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnkOl8iSY1k. The timing is fantastic considering November is Adoption Awareness month. Awareness is the key word in that sentence. 

How did it come to be that many people share a generally agreed upon perception that older children are 'damaged goods' and therefore unadoptable? (By older, let's say more than three). Was it a Hollywood movie, a newspaper article or one really awful story that someone told you? Is this perception really just the stuff of urban legends?

Well, let's first look at what we do know. We know that parenting is challenging and we know that there are many children who need families. We also know that children who grow up in secure and loving families have better life outcomes on multiple levels. Oh yeah, and we know that there are many people who can't have biological children or don't want to add to the world's population yet want to be parents and would likely be fabulous parents. 

Ok, so what now? Let's go find out about what we don't know. Let's match those perceptions with reality. Let's find out about these kids who need families. Are they as unadoptable as we somehow were lead to believe. I have a sneaky suspicion that once we do our homework, we will be surprised to find that exactly what we are looking for is under our noses! 

Check out the video and do yourself a favour. After watching, ask yourself, "What do I want?" If the answer is "To be a parent", I think you may have found your method. Think about it and then think about it again and then do something about it...because you can.