Search Results: Winter 2014

Gotcha Day

Parent-to-Parent: The Great Gotcha Debate

The term "Gotcha Day" has ardent fans and strong detractors in the adoption community. We asked Adoptive Families readers how they feel about it, and whether they use the term in their family. Here's what you said.

Deciding Where to Adopt From

“Choosing Which Country to Adopt From (Twice)”

Growing up in a mostly white, Midwestern town in the late 1970s and early 80s, watching reruns of The Donna Reed Show and Leave It to Beaver, I figured I would finish school, find a girl to marry, buy a little house with a white picket fence, and have a couple of kids who looked like me. This was the middle-class American dream, and at the time it never occurred to me that life would turn out any other way.

Deciding to adopt

“If at First You Don’t Succeed…”

Before trying to have kids, I'd never failed at anything. Though I still believe in planning and hard work, it was something else that brought me my two beautiful boys.

Identity development for teens in blended families can be tricky.

Teens in Blended Families

When their family also includes biological children, adoptees can have complex feelings about siblings and their own sense of belonging.

My daughter's connection with her adoptive grandmother

“My Mother’s Ring”

This heirloom bridges the past with the future, connecting my daughter to our family in profound, unexpected ways.

Adoption Experts answer your questions.

Ask AF: When Preteens Face Prejudice

My 12-year-old, adopted from China, has recently been saying she doesn't want to go to school. Last night I finally got her talking. She said, "There are kids who disrupt the class and are racist. They tell Asian jokes." Her school is diverse, but there are few Asian students. How can I help her?

Favorite Reads of 2013

Many new books with adoption storylines or themes were published in 2013. Here are your favorites, for parents and children, with our picks added to the list.

Books about adoption: The Child Catchers

[Book Review] The Child Catchers

An Adoptive Families reader reviews The Child Catchers, by Kathryn Joyce, a book revealing how religion and finances have affected international adoption.

Cost of adoption survey data

Cost of Adoption Update: 2012-2013

A comparison of costs for domestic and international adoptions, the cost of adoption uncertainties, and more–data from our 2012-2013 Cost & Timing of Adoption Survey.

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