Promoting kinship

In honor of National Adoption Awareness Month, stylist Christopher Lee McGivern of Gregory Stevens Salon in Laguna Beach will hold a “Cut-a-thon” Tuesday through Saturday at the salon in order to raise money to benefit adoption services in California.

Fifty percent of proceeds from all of his hair services, including haircuts, color and highlights, will be donated to the Kinship Center, a California nonprofit agency dedicated to the creation, preservation and support of foster, adoptive and relative families for children who need them.

“My partner Shawn and I adopted our child, Tyriq, through the Kinship Center seven years ago,” he said. “They were so great and helpful to us that I would like to give back to them now.”

Although McGivern has dedicated his services to many charities in the past including the Red Cross following 9/11 and Breast Cancer Awareness Month, he said this one is especially important to him.

“Shawn and I became aware of some [obstacles] to this process with a prior adoption agency,” he said. “We couldn’t have done this without Kinship’s efforts.”

Celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, the center has long helped create and support families for thousands of children of all ages, who can no longer remain safely with their birth parents because of abuse or neglect or those who are voluntarily relinquished for adoption as infants.

“They really focus on placing children with the appropriate families,” McGivern said.

Adoption Awareness Week for children in foster care was established in 1976 in Massachusetts by Gov. Mike Dukakis, according to Adoption.org.

The idea grew in popularity and was eventually adopted in 1990 by President Gerald Ford who expanded the week to a month.

Throughout November across the nation, many organizations and communities hold special events to raise public awareness and celebrate adoption as a positive way to build families.

McGivern has worked as a stylist for more than 16 years, 11 of which he owned his own salon in Riverside, where he specialized in all phases of haircutting, coloring and permanent makeup.

He started at 14, applying makeup for top models and by 18 was doing freelance print work and runway makeup. As a stylist, he focuses on cutting edge techniques in cutting and styling.

McGivern’s hours are between 2 and 7 p.m. Appointments are preferred. To make an appointment, call (949) 315-0891.

Gregory Stevens Salon is at 540 S. Coast Hwy., Suite 206.