3 Things Adopting Parents Can Do Now To Make This Year The Best One Ever

New Year’s Eve is just hours away — are you ready?

You’ve probably already made plans on how you’re going to ring it in — whether it be a quiet evening at home, getting together with family or friends, or going out for a night on the town.

But what about the rest of the year?

As an adopting parent, what are your plans?

How do you intend to build your family through open adoption?

How will you be reaching out to expectant parents?

What are you planning to do to get the word out about your adoption profile and find a match?

You don’t need to have all of the answers now. You probably don’t.

But in the next few days, you should start thinking about them. Continue reading →

The Best Gift You Can Give Yourself When You’re Waiting To Adopt

The holidays are here, and that means it’s time to relax, take it easy and spend time with family and loved ones.

Unless you’re waiting to adopt. In that case, this time of the year is anything but relaxing.

It’s hard to take it easy when everywhere around you families are celebrating the season with their children, and you’re not.

Makes you wonder what you’re missing out on and when will your turn ever come.

At least that’s how I felt when my wife and I were waiting to adopt. Continue reading →

Surviving A Domestic Adoption Scam: How To Move Forward

This guest post is by Amy, a hopeful adoptive mother and blogger.

We really never thought it would happen to us.

We were cautious. We were careful. We listened to our agency and followed all the “rules.”

And yet it DID happen:

We were scammed!

We had dealt with a few probable scammers before — women who called us on our adoption line or emailed us for a few days with crazy stories or requests that sent red flags waving in all directions. But this was different.

This scam was well-planned, cruel and criminal. It not only drained us emotionally and financially, but left us questioning ourselves and our ability to move forward. Continue reading →

Adoption Limbo: 3 Tips When You’re Stuck Between “Just Us” and “We’re a Family”

This guest post is by Barbara Herel, an adoptive mother and blogger.

Having a baby come into your life has been described by many a parent as a miraculous event.

The baby part, yes, babies are miraculous. The domestic adoption process, well, not so much.

There’s a real checklist of things you must do in order to adopt and I like me a good checklist.

It’s tangible. It’s action-oriented!

And darn it, it feels good to feel like you’re moving forward and in control of something for a change. (Take that, tired old eggs!)

Then the checklist ends. And so does the forward-moving momentum.

Soon the uneasy and persistent feeling of Limbo takes over. Continue reading →

Yes, We’re Adopting. But Please Don’t Call Us “Special”

This guest post is by Ethan Brooks-Livingston, a hopeful adoptive parent.

Recently, my wife, Angela and I headed to our local small metropolis for an evening out. One of our stops was a store for supplies for some projects I’m working on for the Littlest Brooks-Livingston’s eventual arrival.

We encountered someone who noticed that we were buying baby-oriented items and in a friendly waiting-in-line-together kind of way, she asked what we were making, so I told her.

Anticipating this might propel the discussion into questions about pregnancy and/or our due date, as has happened before, Angela said,

“We’re adopting.”

The person we encountered suddenly brightened and congratulated us, telling us how exciting it is that we’re adopting. Continue reading →

Failed Adoption Match: How To Pick Yourself Up And Go On

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

“Everything about adoption is hard, except loving the child…” – Jody Dyer, The Eye of Adoption

Good grief, Jody is right.

We really had no idea what we were getting ourselves into when we signed with an adoption agency 2 ½ years ago.

Adoption can be hard. It’s a test of your determination, your perseverance, and how much one’s heart can take.

This past summer was probably the most joyous and most heartbreaking time of our lives. We were matched with twins!

We spent two months in the NICU with our twins; we named them, watched them make amazing progress, bonded with both the babies and their birth mom and brought them home.

And then they were gone. Continue reading →

Our Road To Open Adoption — And What We Learned Along The Way

This guest post is by Heather and Holly, hopeful adoptive parents.

Our road before arriving at open adoption began like many others; it was bumpy, there were rest stops, sometimes we chugged our way up mountains and occasionally we ran out of gas.

We were pretty tired by the time we discovered the open adoption exit and my immediate, war weary reaction was no *bleeping* way.

My reaction was the same one you get from an unknowing family member or friend. The same one I saw Matt Lauer utter after a beautiful segment on open adoption on the Today show a few weeks ago.

My reaction went something like this: ‘You expect me to open myself and my imagined future child up to the drama and heartache that will surely come with a woman who is unable to parent her own kid?’ Continue reading →

Opening Up About Open Adoption On Our Facebook Page

We asked, you answered.

Boy, did you ever.

All told, we received nearly 300 responses to our open adoption series on Facebook, “30 Questions, 30 Days.”

“30 Questions, 30 Days” is an National Adoption Month tradition that goes back six years or so to our sister site, Canada Adopts!

Each day, we posted a different question on the America Adopts! Facebook page (and Twitter) aimed at finding out how adoption has touched your life. Continue reading →