Monthly Archives: May 2012

My Adopting Story: Everything Happens For A Reason

For many adoptive parents, building a family through adoption is the best thing that ever happened to them. But experiencing the joy of adoption is one thing. Sharing it with the rest of the world is another.

Adoption is, for the most part, a private matter, one that touches on a lot of intimidate and sometimes uncomfortable personal details and truths. No wonder so many adoptive parents are content to just go on with their lives and put their journey behind them after their placement. Continue reading →

What We Owe A Birthmother: Open Adoption Through The Eyes Of A Lesbian Couple

This guest post is by Heather Fitz, a hopeful adoptive mother.

For my partner, April, and I, the month of May has been fraught with emotion. There was Mother’s Day, a holiday that held new meaning for us not because we’ve already adopted, but because we are approved to adopt whenever we match with a birthmother.

For the first time, we weren’t just thinking about our own mothers and how much they mean to us. We also took the time to consider what kind of mothers we want to be. The very idea we could be celebrating next year’s Mother’s Day holiday as moms ourselves made us giddy and propelled us down memory lane. Continue reading →

My Two Open Adoptions

I have two stories about open adoption. The first one is about a closed adoption that was broken open by me. The second one is about an open adoption that was arranged by me with the help of a forward-thinking agency.

I was born in 1960, and my birth mother didn’t make a plan for me. She gave me up, and harsh as that sounds to contemporary adoption language-tuned ears, that’s what happened. She didn’t have a choice. If she’s anything like me, I reasoned, she’d understand my desire for a reunion. Continue reading →

Adoption Failure, Then Friendship: What A Birthmother Taught Me About Finding the Right Match

This guest post is by Lisa, a hopeful adoptive mother. 

Being a mom has been the most rewarding experience of my life. I have found such joy in raising my daughter, Emma, who is now five years old.

I am unable to have another biological child due to infertility but am just as excited about opening up our lives with the love of a baby or toddler through adoption. My strong desire to be a mom is no doubt the result of my own mother’s strong influence in my life. Continue reading →

2 Adoptions + 1 Pregnancy = Joy

This guest post is by Elizabeth Carellas of A Family of My Own Fertility & Adoption Conference. 

When my husband, Peter, and I married in 1983, we always knew children were going to be part of our future. However, by the early-1990s we discovered that becoming pregnant was not going to be part of our life plan at that time, yet we still longed to be parents.

After very few conversations we chose to look into adoption, preferably being able to bring a child home that shared our family heritage.  Continue reading →

Dear Adoptive Parents, Open Up. Signed, Your Daughter’s Birthmother

This guest post is by Lynn, a birthmother.

 

I am a birthmother to a 12-year-old girl named Janet. I actually named her Sarah but the adoptive parents changed her name. Janet was an unexpected surprise but I loved her from the very beginning. Janet has three other sisters that she has not met.

Choosing to surrender Janet to adoption was the hardest decision I have ever had to make in my entire life. Continue reading →

The Difference An Adoption Support Group Makes

This guest post is by Michelle,  a hopeful adoptive mother.

It has been about eight years since my husband and I started on our journey to expand our family.  Our story is like so many others’ and yet everyone’s story is unique. We went through multiple medical tests, procedures, IVF and a miscarriage.

After the last unsuccessful round of IVF, we took some time off from working on building our family and tried to figure out what we wanted to do. It’s very odd, but I felt like I kept being pointed towards adoption. Continue reading →

The Gift Of Adopting

This guest post is by Elizabeth, a hopeful adoptive parent. 

I’ve always been someone that gets what she wants. Yes, I just said that out loud.

Before you scowl at me in disgust, please let me explain what I mean. You see, up until July 2011, things in my life came easy for me. Ugh!

Ok, I’m still not coming across the way that I want to (insert embarrassed face). Continue reading →