November is Adoption Awareness Month in South Dakota, a great time for all of us to focus on 18 of the 300 or so children who are in the care and custody of the South Dakota Department of Social Services.

Those 18 kids are free to be adopted, but haven't been.

They range in age from six to 16. They live in foster homes, group homes or other residential facilities. DSS hopes its campaign, "Answering the Call: You Don't Have to Be Perfect to Be A Perfect Parent," will identify an adoptive family for each of them so that they, too, can soon have a place to call home.

These children present challenges, of course. They have special needs relating to a physical or emotional condition, a mental disability or the fact that they are part of a larger sibling group. Adopting one or more of them is not easy, simple or without sacrifice.

But it also has rewards, as any of DSS's adoptive parents will tell you. Since November 2006, 160 children in South Dakota have been adopted through DSS. Even more were placed through independent and private agencies.

One of the most important rewards is realizing that this year's campaign slogan is true: you don't have to be perfect to be the perfect parent for a child.

What the 18 kids currently awaiting a home of their own need most is a chance - a chance to become part of family, even an imperfect family, that will do its best to provide for their needs and love them as best they can for the rest of their lives. More than perfect parents, these children need someone they can depend on for stability and permanency.

That's the public education message delivered at adoption fairs held around the state this month. About 50 people attended one last Saturday in Rapid City, and two more informational meetings on domestic and international adoption are scheduled in this area soon: Nov. 27 at 6 p.m. at Fall River Hospital in Hot Springs and on Dec. 3 at 6 p.m. at Lutheran Social Services in Rapid City.

Matching kids with families who will love them is the goal of National Adoption Month, but it is an ongoing challenge every month of the year.

For more information, call DSS at 605 773-3227 or visit www.dss.sd.gov/adoption.