(Lincoln, NE) -- November is now Adoption Awareness Month in Nebraska.
Governor Pete Ricketts signed the proclamation this week to promote the importance of providing stability to a child's life and how adoption can meet that need. Ricketts met with several adoptive families Tuesday, thanking them for opening their homes to a kid who needed a family of their own.
"The family plays a crucial role in social development and is the essential building block of society," Ricketts said. "Every child deserves to have a stable, permanent family of their own, and it benefits all of Nebraska to work towards this goal."
The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services noted Megan and Mark Grimes attended the event. They recently finalized the adoption of their 5-year-old daughter. Megan said her family "now feels complete."
"I cannot begin to describe the positive impacts this adoption has had for all of us," said Megan.
Megan, Mark, and their five-year-old daughter with Governor Ricketts
Ricketts met with Rakeesha Barber, a single mother who adopted three siblings. The two boys and one girl are ages 10, 8, and 1.
Barber and two of her children with Governor Ricketts
The DHHS Division of Child and Family Services Director Stephanie Beasley said adoption is "a transformation families will experience for the rest of their lives," and urged Nebraskans to consider adoption.
494 children in Nebraska are waiting to be adopted.