Table of Contents: May 2017

 

Feature

Navigating the Teen Years, Part 1: Setting “Adoption-Sensitive” Limits

As a teen, your child still needs and wants you to be a strong parent—not in a controlling fashion, but as a reliable authority in his or her life. A family therapist (and adult adoptee) discusses 10 ways to establish yourself in this role. | BY KATIE NAFTZGER, LICSW


Personal Essays – Our Stories

In these paired essays, a birth mother and the mother who adopted her twins share their experiences.

“Letting Go”

After struggling to parent my twin daughters for ten months, I sadly realized I couldn’t provide them with the stable life I’d envisioned. | BY BRANDY STEIN

“How I Met My Daughters”

I may not remember when I first knew I wanted to be a mother, but the moments leading up to and the first time I saw my daughters are indelibly etched in my memory. | BY LAKSHMI IYER


Personal Essay – At Home

“Dear Other Mothers…”

“My greatest joy, becoming a mother, happened because both of my children lost the one person no child should have to lose.” As her oldest child navigates the teen years, a mother looks back and expresses her deep gratitude to both her children’s birth mothers for the joys and challenges alike. | BY SHELLY ROY


The Experts: Adoption Law

The ICPC: An Updated Overview

When you adopt a child from a different state, you’ll need approval under the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children before traveling home. Here’s what you need to know about this process. | BY PETER J. WIERNICKI, ESQ.


Parent-to-Parent

Post-Adoption Contact Agreements

Parents in open adoptions share whether they have a post-adoption contact agreement with their child’s birth parents and, if so, what it includes.


Ask AF


News Briefs

Ethiopia Suspends Adoptions

Further Decline in International Adoption Numbers, and Ongoing Challenges

New Alabama Law Allows Adoption Agencies to Discriminate Against LGBT Couples

State Department Calls for Outstanding Post-Adoption Reports


Departments

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR, RE: March 2017

Goofy Grins Photo Contest Winners


Thank You to This Issue’s Sponsors:

Adoption by Shepherd Care
Adoptions from the Heart
Bethany Christian Services
Children’s Connections Inc.

Ellyn J. Bullock, Solberg & Bullock, LLC

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