Our Adoption Story: Part Five

Here is a post from the Forever Parents adoption forums dated 9/30/03, the date our placement officially ended. Today, Sept. 30, marks the end of our 90 day “trial” with our kids. As the Grateful Dead say…”what a long, strange trip it’s been”. Over the next 1-2 weeks, the state will sign a consent form that gives us the okay to proceed with the adoption and then we have to sign (with a...

Adoption Interviews #4

The next two interviews were done by members of the Forever Parents adoption forums. Thanks ladies! If you’re an adoptive or waiting parents and are interested in being interviewed, please e-mail me at joannegreco AT gmail.com with adoption interviews in the headline (so it’s not mistaken for spam). 1) The first one is from Lori from BestLight Adoption Profile Review . She also blogs at Weebles Wobblog.People...

Adoption Homestudy

The Adoption Home Study Process: Factsheet for Families Author(s): Child Welfare Information Gateway Year Published: 2004 The laws of every State and the District of Columbia require all prospective adoptive parents (no matter how they intend to adopt) to participate in a home study. This process has three purposes: to educate and prepare the adoptive family for adoption, to gather information about the prospective parents...

My Children’s Former Foster Mother

For Wordless Wednesday: My 12 year old, with her former foster mother Pat. She’s holding one of Pat’s current foster children. This photo was taken at the birthday party of my childrens former foster brother, who was adopted the year after we adopted our three. Yes, we’re like one big happy family. Share Tags: foster...

Free Monthly Webinars on International Adoption

Learn about the process of international adoption from your home. Staff members are logged on to answer questions. Medina, OH, June 22, 2007 –(PR.com)– Building Blocks Adoption Service, Inc., a non-profit licensed international adoption agency, provides free monthly webinars on international adoption. Log on from the comfort of your home–the webinar presentation covers the adoption process, travel, countries...

Three Things I Want My Kids To Know As They Grow.

…and what I’m doing now to help them. 1) I want them to know that learning is a natural part of life. That’s it’s not something seperate from life…not something done in a building from Monday through Friday with weekends off. As unschoolers, my children get to see learning all around them. It’s not something they’re made to do, there are no grades or tests needed to prove that they...

Choosing Your Childs Name After Adoption

I recently posted an poll at our adoption forums which asked “For those who adopted an infant through domestic adoption, how much input did the biological mother have on your choosing a name for your child”?The results were: (total votes = 15): 1) The bio. mother chose the name and I had no input 0 / 0.0% 2) I chose the name and the bio. mother had no input 7 / 46.7% 3) I chose the name along with the bio. mother...

Transracial Adoption Video

Interesting video about transracial adoption. More about Transracial Adoption Share Tags: Transracial Adoption Related posts Treat Dad To Frosty And Help Children In Foster Care (1) Transracially Adopted Children’s Bill of Rights (0) Transracial Adoption: One Families Experience (2) Transracial Adoption (13) Transracial Adoption (2)

Over The Moon by Karen Katz

Over The Moon by Karen Katz is a wonderful story of international adoption for young children. The author and her husband adopted their daughter from Guatemala. “…it was after my husband and I adopted our daughter from Guatemala that I was inspired to do a children’s book for her. My first book, Over the Moon, was the story of that magical experience of welcoming our daughter Lena into our lives. I painted,...

Wendy’s Raised Over $1 Million for Adoption

…and my children were part of it. My daughters, adopted through foster care, took their dad to Wendy’s on Fathers Day for a Frosty to support this wonderful cause. I think Dave Thomas would be proud. News Release 6.20.2007 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE FROM WENDY’S INTERNATIONAL CONTACT: Bob Bertini 614/764-3327 WENDY’S CUSTOMERS CELEBRATE FATHER’S DAY WITH A FROSTY; RAISE MORE THAN $1 MILLION FOR THE CAUSE OF...

A Young Adoptee Deals With Past Hurt

I recently posted about my 12 year old daughter discovering that she’s an “adoptee”, which is why I chose the title of this post. If you’ve read our adoption story, you know that she and her siblings were removed from their biological home and placed into protective custody the day before her 4th birthday. *sigh* What a burden for a little girl to handle. Her first full day in the foster care system...

Learning How To Be A Better Parent

Good Parenting Skills Can Be Learned by Jon Arnold We all want to be good parents and learn good parenting skills. Parenting is a full time job, and sometimes it may seem like MORE than a full time job, but when it gets down to it, we have to acknowledge that as parents, we are going to make mistakes. But one of the keys to good parenting is to recognize those mistakes, accept the mistakes, and learn from the mistakes for...

Finding Out You’re An Adoptee

My 12 year old daughter just found out that she’s an ‘adoptee”. No, we didn’t just tell her she was adopted. She already knew that being she was eight years old when we adopted her and her siblings. What I mean is she just found out that there’s a “word” for someone who has been adopted. She thinks it’s pretty cool. We happen to be having a conversation the other day while she...

Transracial Adoption

Striking a deadly blow to racism by James S. Goff Racism is defined as ‘‘the belief in the superiority of one race over another and antagonism based on this belief.” However, racism is more complicated, divisive and pervasive than this simple definition provides. It is like a dark shadow that travels among humans, robbing them of their self worth and identity every chance it gets. It sees the weakness and shallowness in...

Adoption Interviews #3

Here is the third installment in our series of interviews with adoptive and waiting parents that I did through e-mail and on our adoption forum. In an effort to show the many paths adoption can take, I’ll try and choose two that pursued adoption in different ways or are at different stages in their adoption journey. If you’re interested in participating (the more the merrier), please e-mail me at joannegreco AT...

Teen Advice

Wearyparent.com wants to know what advice you received as a teenager that you took to heart. Growing up, my mother had always been a source of inspiration for me. She was, and still is, one of my closest friends (she was my matron of honor when I got married) and someone I always went to for advice. She always told me to follow my own path in life and do what made me happy. That nothing was out of reach. She never criticized...

Soulful Fathering

One of our members at the Forever Parents adoption forums shared this with us on the forums and it’s perfect for today. Happy Fathers Day! Soulful Fathering The five ‘p’s’ of fathering and other tips for spiritual dads.The following tips for soulful fathering are in honor of Father’s Day. Pass them along to your favorite dad. (Of course moms can use them, too.) 1. Listen to your heart when you...

Support the Dave Thomas Adoption Foundation-Buy A ...

Wendy’s is hosting something called “Father’s Day Frosty Weekend.” On June 16 and 17, participating Wendy’s restaurants across the country will donate a minimum of 50 cents from every Frosty product sold to the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, which fills a critical gap by funding and supporting full-time foster adoption recruiters in all 50 states. Regular people can help out a great cause just by heading to...

Our International Adoption Story

Editor’s Note: One of our long time adoption forum members shares her thoughts on becoming a mother and never giving up hope. Parents That Waited: Dreams That Came True (Eventually) By Robin Hutson aka Somebunniesmom I’m tall and have red hair and blue eyes. I have fair skin, generously sprinkled with freckles. I have no business being in the sun. My husband has the good fortune of being less fair-skinned than I,...

A Few More Adoption Blogs I Like

I’ve been regularly sharing links to some of the adoption blogs I enjoy reading and here’s a few more for you to check out. You’ll find others under the category “Links of Interest”. First is from my online pal Lori of Best Light Profile Review. Her blog, Weebles Wobblog has some great adoption posts (among other topic that she blogs about) like The Burning Building Test and Adoption is...

When Your Partner is Reluctant To Adopt

By Jill SmoloweIt had been a long haul to convince my husband to start a family. When biology failed us, he felt the subject of children was closed. By then past 50, Joe was not interested in raising a child whom he inelegantly described as “someone else’s kid.” That was before we went to China in January 1995 and held an adorable, alert seven-month-old girl, who cast her spell over Joe in about five minutes flat. By...