According to American Adoptions, about 135,000 children are adopted in the United States each year. Compare that with abortion statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention—there were 660,000 abortions in the US in 2013—and you can understand the need to get the word out about adoption.

The goal of the five-day mini unit, Adoption: A Choice Worth Making, is to help teens acknowledge the value of human life and to provide them with information about adoption as a viable option for unplanned pregnancies. The course—written by writer and adoptive parent Danielle Dyann Abril—provides a synopsis of the adoption process, as well as perspectives on adoption from scripture, birth mothers, adoptive parents, and teens who were adopted as infants. Written in conjunction with the Holy Family Adoption Agency, which is dedicated to placing children with Catholic adoptive parents, teenagers will learn about the positive effort taking place in the United States and in the Church to place children in families.

Adoption: A Choice Worth Making provides complete lesson outlines, including video links, student handouts, and assessments. The lessons are designed to cover five, fifty-minute periods during one week or one period for five consecutive weeks. The unit supports any Catholic high-school theology course and is also appropriate for parish youth ministry programs.