I’m never going to find the right adoptive family for my baby.
Nobody will ever love my child as much as I do.
What happens if the family I choose doesn’t like me?
How do I know I can trust them?
Will they judge me?
Maybe I should just stop looking and raise my child myself. Continue reading
Thanks to high profile adoptions by Angelina Jolie, Sandra Bullock, Madonna and other celebrities, transracial adoption has been into the spotlight. About 40% of all adoptions in the United States today are transracial.
But how easy is it to raise a child of a different race? Are there special considerations that need to be taken? Should he or she be parented in the same way as any other child?
When it comes to transracial adoption, many people go into the process thinking that love is enough — it can fix everything. Others, however, argue that not only does this approach not do children any favors. It can also cause them irreparable harm. Continue reading
Telling your story through an parent profile is a great way to reach out to an expectant mother considering adoption. But if you really want to make a splash, video is the way to go.
Video profiles are more dynamic and entertaining and enable you to create a more immediate, emotional connection. By weaving together your story, photos and music, a video can give an expectant mother a more complete portrait of your life and your reasons for adopting. Continue reading
Placing a baby for adoption is often called the ultimate sacrifice. It’s also one of the loneliest.
Few experiences in life can compare with the heartbreak of coming home from the hospital empty-handed after carrying a baby for nine months.
Ashley Mitchell knows the feeling. Seven years ago she placed her baby for adoption and struggled through all of the ups and downs that came with it.
Today, the married Springville, Utah mother of two runs Blessings in A Basket, a non-profit organization aimed at helping birth mothers deal with their pain and loss and find peace and comfort following their placements. Continue reading
The last I checked there was no operating manual about how to build a strong open adoption relationship. So until that day arrives we’ll just have to rely on Lori Holden’s The Open-Hearted Way to Open Adoption: Helping Your Child Grow Up Whole, which in my view is the next best thing.
Readers of this blog will be familiar with Lori and her book, which was written with the help of her daughter’s birth mother. Earlier this spring, I wrote a book review about it and conducted a follow-up interview with Lori. Continue reading
What makes a successful adoption profile?
It’s a question that all adoptive parents ask themselves, usually just before creating their profile but often afterwards as well.
Next to word of mouth, your adoption profile is the most important marketing tool you have to connect with an expectant mother who is facing an unplanned pregnancy and considering adoption for her baby.
But with so many profiles on display online and elsewhere, how do you make yours stand out? Continue reading
This guest post is by Carey Marin, an adoptive mother.
We have an open adoption and we have the most open relationship with our son’s birth parents that I’m familiar with. It was actually the only specific request we had while we were praying for our adoption.
That we would be able to find a couple that wanted to be as open as we did. God was there and more than answered our prayers. Continue reading
When it comes to describing her relationship with her son’s adoptive parents, Renee doesn’t hold anything back. “It’s the world’s best open adoption,” she says proudly.
But it nearly didn’t happen for the North Carolina birth mother. After a few really rough days after relinquishing her parental rights, she wrote them to say she was having doubts about her decision. She was thinking of raising her son, Liam, on her own. Continue reading
You’ve spent hours on your adoptive parent letter, pouring your heart and soul into it until everything is just right. The content, the tone, the layout — they couldn’t be better. But months after you’ve posted it online, you’ve gotten only one call — and it was a wrong number.
What should you do now? Should you keep waiting and holding out hope that the right expectant mother will eventually come along and contact you? Continue reading
