The Open-Hearted Book About Open Adoption

It’s hard to take issue with a book that calls itself The Open-Hearted Way to Open Adoption — harder still when that book lives up its billing in such an open and honest way that this one does.

The Open-Hearted Way To Open Adoption by Lori Holden with Crystal Hass is a big, generous, and yes, open-hearted, book — the guide that the open adoption community has been waiting for. Insightful and entertaining, it not only explains why you should do an open adoption, but shows you how to do it with grace and confidence. Read More

Marketing Yourself To Prospective Birthparents: Two Marketers Share Their Experiences

Like it or not – and many people don’t - marketing yourself to prospective birthparents is a huge part of the open adoption process.

If you want to find a baby, so the saying goes, you`ve got to find her yourself. And the way to do that is by rolling up your sleeves and getting the word out to everyone and anyone you know. Read More

11 Simple Ways to Get Your Online Adoption Profile Noticed

How was your Mother’s Day? Tough going? Don’t feel like talking about it? That’s OK. You’re not alone. Many women trying to adopt feel that way. Mother’s Day is one of those holidays that reminds you of what you don’t have and leaves you feeling down in the dumps.

But now that it’s come and gone, it’s time to re-group and and move your adoption plan forward — and more specifically, to find news ways to get your parent profile noticed. Read More

Creating An Adoption Plan For Your Baby Around Mother’s Day

If you’re putting together an adoption plan for your baby, you probably have a lot on your mind — figuring out how the process works, what kind of  adoptive parents you want to have, and perhaps even asking yourself whether you’re doing the right thing at all.

Placing your baby in a family of strangers is tough to do, no matter what time of the year you’re thinking about it. Thinking about it now, in the lead up to Mother’s Day, only complicates the issue. Read More

Why I Feel Lucky To Have Found My Baby Girl’s Adoptive Parents

This guest post is by Kari Wiessner, a birthmother.

As a birthmother it’s always hard as Mother’s Day arrives. Yes, there is Birthmothers Day, but it’s not the same.

Eight years ago, on November 23, 2004, I became a mother. Six months prior I had picked out a family for this little girl to go home to. Two days prior to her arrival into this crazy world, the couple backed out on me saying they did not feel I would be involved in baby girl’s life. My life had shattered at 11:47 pm November 21,2004. Read More

How To Survive Mother’s Day When You’re Waiting To Adopt

T.S. Eliot was wrong. April isn’t the cruellest month. May is, at least if you’re waiting to adopt.

For weeks now, you’ve probably heard it: the endless drumbeat of Mother’s Day messages – in stores, on radio and TV, and here on the Net. And in the next few days it will only get louder.

For many people Sunday is a day of celebration. But if you’re a woman waiting to adopt it’s a day you’d just as soon forget — yet another reminder that you’re NOT a mom. Read More

Is Adopting The Second Time Easier Or Harder Than Adopting The First Time?

Is adopting the second time easier or harder than adopting the first time? Is every adoption unique or are there lessons from one situation that you can learn and apply to the next one? Stacy and Guy are about to find out. The Newark, California adoptive parents from our Find A Family page are no strangers to adoption, and especially to the benefits of open adoption. Read More

Unplanned Pregnancy? 7 Reasons To Consider Open Adoption

Unplanned pregnancy? Unsure what to do next? Have you thought about open adoption?

Adoption, and open adoption, may not be the first option that comes to mind when you’re looking for a solution to an unplanned pregnancy. But once you find out a little more about it, you may surprised by what open adoption has to offer and how different it is from what you may have thought. Read More

Covering The Costs Of Your Open Adoption: Tips and Tricks

For many hopeful adoptive families, finances are the biggest barrier to adopting. But for Julie Gumm, the cost of an adoption should never stand in the way of giving a child a loving family.

Drawing on her personal experience and those of 30+ adoptive families, Julie is the author of Adopt Without Debt: Creative Ways to Cover the Cost of Adoption — a hands-on guide that contains more than $80,000 worth of creative fundraising tips and ideas, plus loads of interesting and, yes, fun ways to save money for your open adoption. Read More

Prospective Birthmother Not Connecting With You? Here’s Why

Every day it’s the same: you wake up in the morning full of hope that this will be the day when you finally connect with a prospective birthmother. It’s been months since you first sent out your adoption profile and you still haven’t received a response. Not a peep.

But as another day goes by without hearing anything, you start to wonder how much longer can you go on like this. Why aren’t prospective birthmothers clicking with you? What’s wrong with your profile? What’s missing? Read More