Five Things To Remember When You Adopt An Older Ch...

According to 2005 statistics, there are over 500,000 children in foster care, with the average age being ten years old. Adopting older children can be very rewarding but it’s not for the faint of heart. These children will bring you every bad experience they’ve had and dump it right into your unsuspecting lap. I adopted not one, but three older children and I’ve learned a few things along the way. 1) Don’t freak...

Adoption And Race

What role does race play in adoption? Not the race of the child, but rather the race of the person or couple who is adopting. Has your race ever been a factor (not necessarily in a negative way either) in your adoption process? I asked this question at our adoption forums and I’ll open it up to our blog visitors as well. Feel free to answer in a comment here, or on your own blog. If you answer at your blog, let me know...

Adoption Stories: Infant And Older Child Adoption

The following was submitted by Beth, one of our blog readers. Leave a comment here if you’d like to share your adoption story also. We have three children. Our oldest daughter and son were adopted at birth. Our youngest son was adopted right before his tenth birthday. This is a story of both joy and sorrow, excitement and patience, and most importantly, unconditional love. My husband and I were married in 1965. Like...

Children’s Books On Adoption

Written by Debbie Schwartz, who is a source of inspiration at our adoption forum and is the Program Coordinator for Adoption Connection at Jewish Family Services of Greenwich in Connecticut. Click any of the titles to purchase them through amazon.com. When you think of the books you loved as a child, what images come to your mind? Many of us remember bedtime rituals that included Goodnight, Moon and Pat the Bunny or a...

Families Change: A Book for Children Experiencing ...

All families change over time. Sometimes a baby is born, or a grown-up gets married. And sometimes a child gets placed in foster care. Children need to know that when this happens, it’s not their fault. When a child gets adopted they need to understand that they can remember and value their birth family and love their new family, too. Straightforward words and full-color illustrations offer hope and support for...

‘Jockey’ Adoption Services & Prog...

I’m excited to pass along this terrific program to you, made possible by Jockey (yes, the underwear company – lol). They are working with families who adopted through foster care to provide them with post-adoption support such as respite and parent support groups. As you know, we adopted three children though foster care and often gripe on this blog about the lack of services offered to those of us who have...

My Daughter Explains Adoption

As a young adoptee, my ten year old daughter (adopted at the age of five) has been faced with the task of explaining adoption from time to time, to her friends. This is a topic she and I have spoken about several times and will continue to discuss as she grows up. I feel very strongly that we, as parents of adopted children, should empower them to be able to answer questions about adoption and educate the people they come in...

National Adoption Month-2008

November is National Adoption Month! November is National Adoption Month, a month set aside to raise awareness about the adoption of children and youth from foster care. This year’s theme of adopting teens from foster care builds on the Ad Council’s new public service announcement (PSA) campaign of the Children’s Bureau, the Adoption Exchange Association, and The Collaboration to AdoptUsKids. Here are some...

Adoption Articles Posted

Two adoption articles have been posted at our forums. Please share the link with those who might be interested. Waiting To Adopt Open Adoption, Semi-Open Adoption And Closed Adoption © 2011 Forever Parents Share Tags: Adoption Forums, adoption musings, adoption options, choosing adoption, parents of adopted children Related posts Adoption

National Adoption Day 2008

National Adoption Day is a collective national effort to raise awareness of the 129,000 children in foster care waiting to find permanent, loving families. For the last eight years, National Adoption Day has made the dreams of thousands of children come true by working with courts, judges, attorneys, adoption professionals, child welfare agencies and advocates to finalize adoptions and find permanent, loving homes for...

Ladies Lunch

My daughters & I recently went out to lunch with my aunt Mary (my mothers sister, with Shawna on the right) and my cousin Maryann (my mothers first cousin, with Jacqueline on the left) to our favorite Chinese buffet. I had to share this picture because I love how everybody looks so happy. Share Tags: Older Child Adoption, parents of adopted...

Choosing Your Child’s Name After Adoption

At our adoption forum, I asked members who adopted an infant, how much input their child’s birth mother had in choosing the child’s first name. Here’s what they had to say; 1. She had picked out “a name. We chose a name that starts with T (we made it up). She really like that, too, and the fact that it “goes with” her son’s name. 2. We met with our girls’ birth mom a week...

Adoptive Music

What a great idea! Lullabies – For China’s Daughters And Their Adoptive Families, is “meant to soothe your little one by bringing words of hope, safety, and home while also capturing the deep emotion and feelings parents have for their child”. Take a look at the video below for more information or check out their wesbite: Adoptive Music Share...

Children’s Adoption Book: Logan’s Jour...

Author of Logan’s Journey, Kathy Heath reads her endearing book on open adoption. A valuable tool for parents and educators, Logan’s Journey can help children understand that families are created in many different ways. Share Tags: adoption books, open or closed adoption, parents of adopted children Related posts Families Change: A...

Do You Know Other Adoptive Families?

We only know a few other families that have adopted. One of the family of my children’s former foster brother, who we see a couple of times a year and the other is a new family at our homeschooling group.  I asked the members of our adoption forum if they know, or hang out with  other families who have adopted?  Here’s what they said: ~~I don’t have ANY adoptive parent friends, which is why I value this...

Preparing Your Child To Answer Adoption Questions

Maybe it’s because my own children came to us at an older age…or maybe because my husband & I have different color skin than two of our children, but adoption is a topic we discuss openly and freely. It comes up in natural, conversations that we have with each other and other people. It’s something that is part of our life and “just is”, know what I mean? Whenever people ask me questions like...

Adoptee Summer Camp in Michigan

If you’re the parent of a Korean adoptee in the Michigan area, Sae Jong Camp might be of interest to you. From their website: Our mission is to provide all Korean-American children the opportunity to explore their Korean-American identities, learn about their Korean heritage, and make friendships to last a lifetime. Our camp also provides an opportunity for campers to share their experiences with other campers and...

Transracial Adoptees

Growing up black in a white family By SALLY ACHARYA “We had a big white Ford van with windows all around so people could see in. From the inside of the van, I felt like there were all these white heads and then right in the middle this little brown dot . . . When people saw me with my family, they’d do a double take.” –Shecara, nurse and mother Thirty years ago a commercial about needy Cambodians...

Growing Up Adopted

Study Identifies Strengths Of Adoptive Families By: Dr. Peter L. Benson, Dr. Anu R. Sharma, L.P. and Eugene C. Roehlkepartain The mental health of adopted adolescents has received surprisingly little research attention. Yet, there are several compelling reasons to systematically explore this issue. One is the oft-cited dictum that adopted adolescents are over-represented in mental health treatment populations. Another is the...

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...

Study On Young Adoptees

UNCG RESEARCHERS FIND ADOPTED CHILDREN TO BE AS WELL-ADJUSTED AS THEIR PEERS By Deborah Durkee Dr. DiAnne Borders Dr. Kay Pasley GREENSBORO — Parenting is a tough job. One with many questions and no training manual, employing instead a sink-or-swim method of learning. Add adoption to the mix, and the questions of parenting become more complicated, causing adoptive parents to seek advice from counselors more quickly and...