A Message from Rodney Atkins

NCFA’s National Adoption Spokesperson

Rodney Atkins Speaks Out for Children in Foster Care!  Click here to view and download the PSAs.

Most people know me as a country music artist and songwriter.  That’s what I do for a living, because that’s what I love.  But let me tell you a thing or two about love.

You see, love saved my life.  You may not know it, but I was adopted as a baby by my wonderful parents, Allan and Margaret Atkins of Cumberland Gap, Tennessee.  I was a sickly baby, and after two sets of adoptive parents took me home, they returned me to the orphanage because of a serious respiratory infection. 

But as they say, the third time’s a charm, because my mom and dad adopted me and took me into their home where I was raised in a family full of love.  My parents believed that love is the best medicine, and I’m living proof of that.

Adoption changed my life, and it can change yours, as well as that of a child in foster care who needs a loving, permanent family.

When I’m not touring, recording in the studio or spending time with my family on our farm in Tennessee, I happily serve as a spokesperson for the National Council For Adoption, an adoption education and advocacy group that believes, like I do, that every child needs and deserves a loving, permanent family. 

Right now in this country, there are approximately 129,000 children in foster care waiting to be adopted. That’s a lot of children, but then again, there’s enough love in America to help these kids, and love is thicker than blood.

NCFA has teamed up with Wal-Mart to create a public awareness program called Families For All.  It’s designed to help raise awareness of children in foster care, and to help Americans realize that we owe it to these kids to give them safe, loving families of their own.

There are 55-million married-couple households, and millions of single adults who could qualify to be a foster parent.  All we have to do now is figure out how to get them together.  And that’s where you come in.

You can become involved with children at risk in a number of ways – through adoption, foster parenting or even mentoring a child in foster care.  Everyone has a role to play, and you can do something that will make a positive difference in the life of a child.

Take it from me.  It is well worth your effort, and you will be glad you did. Both you and the child you care for and love will be blessed.

Thank you.