Role of advocacy is voluntary. Adoption advocacy is no different compared to any other advocacy. Here are few guidelines for you to follow:
- Have enough courage to take up issues. Remember, courage builds on courage so start working on small issues (such as writing to the editor, talking to prospective adoptive parents) and that will lead you to attempt larger issues. Do not start off working on challenging issues to begin with because when they fail to yield the desired results, that can dampen your spirits. Courage is not necessarily synonymous with confrontation but it is always synonymous with catalysm.
- Have passion for the cause: Understand why you're doing what you're doing? Unless you have the passion for what you're doing, people can easily see your motives and that can turn people off.
- Be informed: Any issue that you work on, understand it inside out. Information is power and when you're informed, be assured that you're going to make a difference. You need to read extensively and interact with people thoroughly to know what is it that you're trying to work on. Don't worry, you need not subscribe to all the books but you can make use of the web to read as much as you can.
- Network with people: Unless you have adequate support for the cause (I mean the larger one's) that you're working on, you're likely not to make much progress. So be a people person. People love to work with you so long as your desires are sincere.
- Willing to accept defeat: In any activism, you're not going to succeed in everything. Have the needed grace to accept defeat and learn from it to move forward.
Have a question? Write to us at indiahopehouse@gmail.com
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