This guest post is by Jessica Lambert-Villa, a birthmother.

I was 19 years old and had no direction in my life besides going up another year in age.

I worked at a local coffee shop that served everyone from wandering vagabonds to pageant queens .

I admired them all. They all seemed to have a purpose or passion that drove them to get out of bed everyday while I contemplated more than enough reasons to stay in bed.

I never made my own footsteps, only followed down the trudged path. 

That path lead me to a dark valley that I never thought I could escape from. But I did.

My journey out of that dark valley started on the morning I found out I was pregnant.

I cried. I hyperventilated. I panicked. I was flooded with thoughts and drowned in fears.

“I have to get an abortion,” I told myself. “I can’t do this. How could I do this? Maybe I won’t tell, no one will know. One quick painless procedure right? That’s what I will do, its a perfect plan.”

The only problem was I didn’t want an abortion.

But I also didn’t want to be “just another pregnant teenager”. Continue reading →

This guest post is Addison Cooper, the founder of Adoption at the Movies.

Hollywood is preparing to honor this year’s best films at the 2017 Academy Awards, and Adoption at the Movies has just honored this year’s most adoption-friendly films with our Adoption at the Movies Awards.

2016 produced several great films, many of which can be particularly useful to adoptive families.

Adoptive parents are often aware of important conversations about adoption that they should have with their children, but are sometimes unconfident or uncertain as to how to start them.

Movies can be bridges into the conversations, making it easier to get those discussions started. Here are three Oscar-nominated films that could be particularly helpful to adoptive families: Lion, Moana, and Piper. Continue reading →

This guest post is by Hal Kaufman, an adoptive parent and founder of My Adoption Advisor.

During the last several years there has been a lot of research and press about Millennials.

Pew Research defines Millennials as people born between 1981 and 1997.

This means that in 2017, Millennials are 20-36 years old. According to Pew, in 2015, Millennial women accounted for 82% of U.S. births.

If you’re looking to adopt an infant, your child’s birth parents are likely to be Millennials.

Continue reading →

This post is by Angela Boucher, an adoptive mother. 

Recently I was asked, as an adoptive mother how has parenthood has changed me?

To be honest, I’m not sure that it matters at all how you become a parent. Instead, it’s about how you choose to parent.

I do not want you to assume my choice to be an adoptive parent was an easy experience.

It came after many years of infertility and struggle.

It took me some time to realize that while pregnancy lasts nine months, parenthood lasts a lifetime.

What I wanted was to be a mom. I wanted that more than being pregnant.

Continue reading →

This guest post is by Karie Boyd, an adoption attorney

Deciding to pursue an adoption is a huge decision for hopeful parents.

Once the decision has been made to welcome a new child into your life, you will need to quickly decide what type of relationship you are most comfortable having with the birth parents.

Continue reading →