Open to openness means that the adoptive parents should be willing to meet with the birth mother before the baby is born, be with her at the hospital, and provide her with pictures and letters after the child is placed with them.

Tree, gifts, spiral ham and sparkling cider - we are not talking about gross excess here, but the simple things that are a traditional part of our culture. It’s the question of spending money that does not absolutely have to be spent while we are facing the inevitable reality of significant bills related to adoption.

Over at the Adoption Guide’s Advice page, I came across a document labeled “Accurate Adoption Language,” which links to a PDF entitled “Positive Adoption Language.” The fact sheet (reprinted from OURS Magazine, May/June 1992), has a fairly complete listing of preferred language (which it calls “positive”) and dispreferred language (called “negative”) for talking about adoption.
In [...]

On October 7, I posted a call to action from JCICS. JCICS’s advocacy — in conjunction with the advocacy of other stakeholders and concerned Americans — has resulted in at least limited success. Here is JCICS’s announcement.

Dear Colleagues,
After advocating on behalf of adoptive families for the past 6 months, Joint Council is very pleased to [...]

JCICS is urging all adoption stakeholders to actively participate immediately in encouraging USCIS to implement a policy that’s good for families and children regarding I-600A Renewals.

Joint Council and others in our field have great concern regarding the one-time renewal of I-600A approvals and the impact on Potential Adoptive Parents (PAPs). It is very clear that the authors of the Intercountry Adoption Act of 2000 intended to ‘grandfather’ all I-600A petitions filed prior to the date on which the Hague Convention went into force in the United States (April 1, 2007). At the time the legislation was drafted, the authors did not foresee the lengthy processing time now associated with adoptions from countries such as China and Haiti.

Today, September 1, 2008, the current Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between the United States and Vietnam expires.

Michael Monroe, leader of Irving Bible Church’s adoption ministry Tapestry, believes that the church should be “the safest place on earth for adoptive and foster families.” Unfortunately, it often is not. Read Michael’s two-part series on this important topic: The Safest Place on Earth - Part 1 and Part 2.
Check out Tapestry’s many [...]

Helping Your Adopted Child: Understanding Your Child’s Unique Identity by Paul David Tripp
Publisher’s Description: Long before you decided to adopt, long before your child was born, God planned to put your adopted child into your home. Your child is an amazing gift from God, but nurturing an adopted child also brings unique challenges.
Understanding your adopted [...]

In a post two days ago, Dorothy Bode wrote in answer to those who ask the question, “Am I making a terrible mistake by adopting transracially?”:
The main thing I help them question is their motivations. “Is God building your family or are you trying to do it in spite of Him and in your own [...]

In this June 2 online education course, learn creative ways to pay for your adoption while keeping your finances in good order.

The following is an informal book review by Claudia-Jacqueline Semar, M.Ed. She has granted us permission to reprint it here.
Ms. Semar is the Executive Director of International Child Foundation. She has worked in adoptions for more than 15 years, and as an adoptive mother, she has first-hand experience in the things she writes about.
I’ve [...]

Two days ago I blogged about A4everFamily.org, a website put together by adoptive families to provide information about bonding and attachment in adoption. The post elicited this comment:
after reading A4everFamily.org site I am scared. we are looking forward to adopting from an orphanage in Uganda (hopefully being able to pick up our child by early [...]

I was just alerted to this great website for adoptive families and prospective adoptive families that deals with a full range of adoption attachment issues, from “normal” bonding to severe attachment disorders: A4everFamily.org. Pass this on to any families you know that are pursuing an adoption. Being educated about what’s typical and what’s possible is [...]

[Update, 10/11/2008: Carolina Hope now offers a live online education course to assist families domesticate an intercountry adoption in South Carolina. More details available at the course page.]
The following information is adapted from the post-adoption support files here at Carolina Hope. Note that this information is directly applicable only to SC residents who have adopted [...]

On January 11 the U.S. Department of State issued a warning (dated January 9) about the status of Guatemala adoptions. (As mentioned in a previous post, Carolina Hope has put its Guatemala adoption program on hold pending new standardized procedures for adoptions in Guatemala. Of course, cases registered under the old system are still being [...]

This week I mail off the last letter and photo updates to the biological mother of my three- and four-year-old daughters. It is the end of a sweet season in my life. I have been writing letters and taking photos with Aris (not her real name) in mind for the past 4 years. [...]

In an earlier post I wrote that we become a ‘city on the hill’ when we adopt trans-racially. Simply put, we look different from most families and we stand out almost anywhere in our culture. But I have encountered another way that people view our family that I never would have guessed in [...]

Dr. Russell Moore, Dean of the School of Theology at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, wrote an excellent article about how rude adoption questions taught him about the gospel. It was published in the May 2007 edition of Touchstone:The Brotherhood of Sons: What Some Rude Questions About Adoption Taught Me About the Gospel of Christ.
The Moores [...]

It is not unusual for adopted children to struggle with a sense of past rejection, particularly if they do not know their birth mother’s story. As a result, some adopted children will wrestle, sometimes intensely, with the thought that they were rejected by their birth parents. This can potentially result in a haunting fear that [...]