ACTRESS, FORMER FOSTER YOUTH AND ADOPTION ADVOCATE CASSIDY MACK TO PARTICIPATE IN 15TH ANNUAL NATIONAL ADOPTION DAY
National Adoption Day will be celebrated on Nov. 22, 2014
Cassidy Mack, American-born film and television actress and former foster youth, will serve as a featured adoption advocate for the 15th annual National Adoption Day, held this year on November 22, 2014.
Celebrated annually on the Saturday before Thanksgiving, and held during National Adoption Month in November, National Adoption Day raises awareness of the more than 100,000 children in U.S. foster care waiting for permanent and loving families. It is also a day to draw attention to the more than 22,000 children each year who turn 18 and age out of the foster care system without families to support them in the future.
Mack,15, was adopted from foster care when she was 6 years old. She spent more than 2,000 days in foster care before her adoption was finalized. In addition to building her acting career, Mack founded Love Gives Chances, a non-profit organization with the goal to let the world know how incredible adopting a child from foster care can be while bringing hope to more children before they age out of the system.
“I choose to not be defined by my past, but instead, I am defining my future. I want to empower all foster youth to find their passions, go after their dreams and give themselves a chance to be who they were born to be,” Mack said.
Mack began her career on the stage doing musical theatre, where she caught the acting bug. After a chance meeting with Ryan Gosling, she decided that she wanted to be a film and television actress. Luckily for her, she was immediately signed and her journey began.
Since then, Mack has appeared in commercials, short and feature films and has had several co-star roles on television, such as Make Your Mark (Disney, 2013), and Chilly Christmas (2012). Her upcoming projects include the family film, co-starring Amy Smart and Grant Bowler, "Zoey to the Max," where she plays a young girl who is adopted from foster care, and she is currently filming the short film "Two Secrets." She uses her past experiences to bring more depth to her performances.
“Cassidy’s hopes and dreams are shared by the more than 100,000 children currently waiting to find their forever families,” said Rita Soronen, president and CEO of the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption. “National Adoption Day gives us one day to celebrate adoptive families, such as the Macks, and those who are still waiting for the one day when they have a family to call their own.”
In 2013, approximately 4,500 children were adopted by their forever families during National Adoption Day celebrations in almost 400 cities across the United States. Thanks to the amazing efforts of adoption advocates, parents, policymakers, judges and lawyers, nearly 50,000 children have been adopted from foster care on National Adoption Day since it began in 2000.
The National Adoption Day Coalition created the One Day Project to give hope to children waiting in foster care, and to encourage others to adopt by sharing their stories of what their “one day” in the adoption process was like. The coalition is asking families, adoptees and adoption advocates to submit a short video about their adoption story, a few words of encouragement or why they support National Adoption Day.
For more information about the events taking place locally and foster care adoption, please visit nationaladoptionday.org.
Jill Crumbacher
Senior VP of Marketing and Development
Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption
Phone: 614-764-8406
Email: jill_crumbacher@davethomasfoundation.org
Amanda Wurst
Tel: 614.224.8114
Email: awurst@paulwerth.com
National Adoption Day Coalition partners: Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, Children’s Action Network, Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute and the Alliance for Children's Rights.
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