Foster Care Video from the Dave Thomas Foundation

The Dave Thomas Foundation does wonderful work in raising awareness of the need for families for children in foster care. Related Tags: foster care, older child adoption Share Tags: foster care, Older Child Adoption Related posts Wendy’s Raised Over $1 Million for Adoption (2) Urge Senate To Reauthorize Adoption Incentive Program...

Why You Should Hold Your Baby

“If You Hold That Baby All The Time…” by Pam Leo “The single most important child rearing practice to be adopted for the development of emotional and social healthy infants and children is to carry the newborn/infant on the body of the mother/caretaker all day long…” – James Prescott, Ph.D. Every mother who has ever had a baby shower has probably heard someone say, “I wish they...

Adoption Poems

These would be a great addition to an adoption lifebook. You can also print one out in a nice font, frame it and hang it near your front door.   ~ Our Family Tree ~ We’ve added to our family tree A stronger one to make A child from another plant Has become our new namesake. Just as a limb is grafted From one tree to another, It alters and improves the plant Making it, uniquely, like no other. Our family tree has...

Small Body, Big Spirit

:: Small Body, Big Spirit :: Mother Nature doesn’t aim for mediocre. She imbues every child with HUGE creative potential. Children are born *knowing* they’re supposed to be BIG — innately powerful, free, and continuously expanding to new horizons. Today, no matter how physically small your child may be, notice and appreciate his or her BIGness in spirit. That spirit is easy to see when your child is...

Adopting A Child With Down Syndrome

I really loved this article about adopting a child with down syndrome. My older two children came to us with needs that typical children don’t usually have and I appreciate when I read about families who focus on the JOY that these kids brought into their lives. When a family adopts a child with a disability, it changes their life and the dynamic of their family in ways they could have never imagined. Some families who...

Grandparents And Adoption

If your son or daughter adopts a child, do you relate to that child the same as you would to a biological grandchild? Yes, you would, according to new research conducted at Haifa School of Social Work. This research is unique in the field in that it evaluated adoptive relationships from the viewpoint of grandparents; previous research examined relationships from the viewpoint of parents and children. Fifteen grandparents...

Adoption Lifebook Supplies

If you’re looking for supplies to create a one of a kind lifebook for your child, please take a look at the Lifebook Page in our Adoption Shop. You’ll find products such as the Adopting Me personalization kit which includes 18 pages designed to fit the needs of all families, whether adopting internationally or domestically or in an open or closed adoption. These pre-packaged pages insert into The Story of Me to...

10 Quirky Things About Myself

Kerri at Kerri’s Journey To Mommyhood posted 10 quirky things about herself and invited her readers to do the same….so I did. 1: I must sleep with socks on. Even when it’s hot. 2: The waistband of whatever I’m wearing has to lay in just the right spot or I have to fix it until it’s exactly where I want it. 3: I gag when I’m around someone brushing their teeth. 4: I have to watch myself in...

Reality Of The Hurt Adoptee

A local magazine, Family Times, interviewed me in last September about older child adoption. One of the many issues I spoke about was when people tell my children that they “have a new life now”. I disagree. It’s still the same life, just a new chapter in it. What happened in their earlier years are part of who they are today, not just in some other life. We don’t try to make it pretty. We don’t...

Fathers Role in Parenting

1) Father To Son: • Help him take responsibility for his own behavior. Don’t encourage a “boys will be boys” attitude that excuses selfishness, impulsiveness, and domination. • Allow him the full range of emotions. Help him learn that real men can be afraid, can hurt, and can cry. Boys need to find safe places to cry where they will not be ridiculed. •It is important for fathers to model appropriate...

Blogs and Sites That Linked To Us

I check the stats for this blog frequently and I like to take note of who is linking to us so I can reciprocate. Welcome to those visitors who found us through these two places. The Adoption Information Directory at adoptionissues.org shares resources for those that are parenting adoptees. From their main page; “Many times, people associate adoption with a childless couple and a newborn baby. They don’t think...

Celebrating Your Adoption Finalization Day

Adoption is a special experience and a great reason to celebrate! Here are some adoption celebration ideas that we hope help make the day a treasured memory for you and your family.   If you’re looking for adoption finalization gifts, please scroll down or check out our favorite adoption gift ideas.   Finalizing an adoption: Have someone pass around a book, with blank pages ,where your guests can share...

Meeting Forever Parents Members

I’ve been so fortunate to be able to meet some of the fantastic women that I’ve grown to love through our adoption forum. So far I’ve met Linny, Robin and Faith…all of which have contributed to this blog. Last week my husband, daughters & I drove to Tampa (we’re about 90 minutes away) to meet the fabulous Lori, who blogs at Weebles Wobblog and posted about our meeting here. She also runs...

Support For Those Who Adopt Transracially

Brandi, a visitor to our blog, asked the following question in a comment on a post about teenage adoptees. This article is very intersting. Does anyone know of any support groups that assist families in delaing with the issues they may face while raising a child of a different color? Brandi, You didn’t mention if you’re looking for an online or offline group. I’d like to invite you to join our adoption forum...

What Do You Want People To Know About Adoption?

I asked the wonderful mamas at the adoption support forum on Maya’s Mom what they wanted people to know about adoption. Here’s what they had to say. (I’ll update this post as more replies come in) 1: Adoption is not second best, second choice or a last resort to parenthood. It is simply an alternate route I dreamt of adopting as a little girl just as I dreamt of being pregnant. Both of my dreams came true....

A Journalist’s Guide to Adoption

A Journalist Guide to Adoption: By Journalists For Journalists Dear Journalist: Adoption is increasingly being covered by the news media, whether it is the legislative battle to open adoption and birth records, the homecoming of a long-awaited child from overseas, the meeting of adoptees and their birth families, a custody battle, corrupt adoption practices, or an in-depth report on what makes a family. Despite the frequency...

13 Ideas For Celebrating An Adoption Anniversary

  Are you looking for ways to celebrate or acknowledge the anniversary of your finalization day? 1: Lighting candles to honor those who made the adoption possible. 2: Family activities such as a picnic or a day at an amusement park. 3: Purchasing a gift that represents the child’s birth heritage such as the country they were born in. 4: Display or fly the flag of the child’s birth country in the front yard. 5:...

The Fostering Adoption to Further Student Achievem...

The Fostering Adoption to Further Student Achievement Act (FAFSA) became law as an amendment to the College Cost Reduction and Access Act (Public Law 110-84). The FAFSA provision will make it possible for teens in foster care to be adopted without losing access to college financial aid. Under this new law, youth who are adopted from foster care at any point after their 13th birthday will not have to include their...

Having Adopted And Biological Children

Our adoption forum members share their experience with having both adopted and biological children. ** Our two biological children were 9 and 11 when we began the process to adopt an infant. As a result, they were very much aware of and involved in everything, and we anxiously awaited our son’s arrival together. We all flew to be there for the placement. After placement, they were excited about holding and feeding the...

Meeting Your Childs Emotional Needs

Childhood is Now by Pam Leo “Let us put our minds together and see what kind of life we can make for our children.” – Chief Sitting Bull I often hear people say, “Kids today are different, I would never have behaved that way as a child.” Are kids today different or is it kid’s lives today that are different? In her book The Continuum Concept, Jean Leidloff points out that, “Natural...

Financing An Adoption

Adoption can be very costly (with the exception of adopting through foster care) and we asked our adoption forum members for advice on how they financed their adoption. ** We’re saving, saving, saving. If we wait as long as our agency says the average is–15-18 months–we’ll have enough to cover agency fees and probably attorney costs by the time the baby is born. If it happens sooner, we’ll use...