In this personal essay, one adoptive mother describes how her family learns about her daughter’s Chinese heritage at a school with other families.
State Adoption Laws Update, May 2015
Has your state recently changed its adoption laws? Check out AF’s condensed list here.
Parent-To-Parent: Happy Adoption Day
Did you celebrate the day you met your child or his adoption finalization? Do you continue to mark that day every year? What do you call it? Members of our Facebook page shared their stories.
Parent-To-Parent: Like Parent, Like Child
On our Facebook page, we asked readers: How are you and your child surprisingly alike?
Parent-to-Parent: Was It Fate?
On our Facebook page we asked readers: Adoption stories often involve serendipity. Please share any amazing coincidences that arose on your journey to family. Here are some of your responses
Parent-To-Parent: My Child, My Role Model
On our Facebook page, we asked readers: What qualities do you most admire in your child that are most different from your own? Here’s what they had to say.
Parent-To-Parent: Time for Cake!
On our Facebook page, a reader asked for help: “Does anyone have suggestions for what to write on a cake to celebrate finalization?” Here are some of your ideas for topping off the icing on the cake.
Ask AF: Honoring a Birth Mom’s Memory
Spurred, in part, by my daughter’s questions, I recently initiated a search for my six-year-old’s birth mother. I learned that her birth mother died a year ago. Do I need to tell my daughter now? If so, how?
Sibling Snapshots
From the first meeting to a grown-up wedding, readers shared candid photos of adopted siblings. Here are some of our favorites.
Our Family Snapshots
We asked AF readers to send in their most memorable family portraits, and the response we got was overwhelming. Each photo represented a story that was inspiring, fascinating, and unique. Here are a few of our favorites.
Welcome Home: Our Adoption Announcements
We asked AF readers to share their child’s adoption announcements, and we were stunned by the creativity shown in your responses. These are a handful of our favorites.
Ask AF: Smoothing the Transition to College
We’re worried that our daughter, who had trouble with attachment, might struggle as she goes off to college. How can we support her during this time?
Ask AF: “Hands Off His Hair, Please”
My son is African American. When we’re out, people frequently approach us, and want to touch his hair. Most seem to be well-meaning, but is this ever OK? What can I say?
Ask AF: Telling Our Child We’re Adopting
Answers to your parenting questions.
“The Promise of a Thousand Memories”
“Your baby is coming!” Our daughter’s birth mom, Brooke, had finally gone into labor, almost two weeks late. The call came at 3:30 A.M., and we were out the door by 4 A.M. The toy dangling from the empty car seat rattled like a ticking clock as we drove along the highway for two long hours.
“Our Initiation Into Parenthood”
Our first foster placements were a two-year-old girl and her baby brother. Their last placement had disrupted due to her primal fits. As a child therapist, I dealt with children all day, sometimes for an hour at a time. I told my husband we could handle it. I’ll get back to that later.
Proposed Law Would Make Adoption Tax Credit Refundable
A bipartisan bill seeks to make the adoption tax credit refundable, helping lower-income families.
Hiring Your Adoption Professional
Doing your homework helps you feel comfortable with your selection. How can you find that same comfort level when you hire an adoption professional? You probably have not done that before, and you may not know anyone else who has, either. You may not know what to ask for or how to get what you need.
“My First Mother’s Day”
My first Mother’s Day took me from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to Chicago. It was the day I was baptized into motherhood.
Open Adoption: A Reference Guide for Families
Openness brings great benefits to all involved, as well as some unique dilemmas. Addressing them requires flexibility, sensitivity to the birth family, and confidence in yourself as parents. Here’s how to make it work for your family.