Don't be surprised if your child wants to know about his birth brothers and sisters. Such questions are healthy — and normal.
“What Will This Baby Be Like?”
A mother shares the "new, unexpected, and amazing" attributes of her adopted son, of which no one talked about at the start of their adoption journey.
Then & Now Contest – Your Family & Adoptive Families
Enter our Then and Now Contest - Tell us what Adoptive Families has meant to you and how your family has grown for a chance to win $250.
Should I Adopt a Child with “Special Needs”?
Peg Studaker, supervisor of the Waiting International Child Program at Children’s Home Society and Family Services, in Minnesota, says: "Parenting children with special needs should be a family's first choice. Adopting a special-needs child should never be a second choice because the family could not get the child they really wanted to parent."
Positive Adoption Language
By using positive adoption language, we can educate others and help combat stereotypes about adoption.
For Adoptive Parents: Helping Adopted Teenagers Stand on Their Own
In the middle-school years, parents must step back and help their child learn to stand up for herself, in school and in the larger world.
Choosing Which Age Group to Adopt
For lots of adoptive parents, the hardest part of the process is the “choice" — particularly what age they should adopt.
Ask AF: Judgmental Questions About Adoption
Answers to your parenting questions.
Ask AF: Explaining Adoption and Divorce
Answers to your parenting questions.
Ask AF: Preschooler Grieving After a Failed Match
Answers to your parenting questions.
Raising a Moral Child
Helping our children develop empathy in a me-focused world.
Paradoxes of Adoptive Parenting
After writing Secret Thoughts of an Adoptive Mother, Jana Wolff returns with more candid insights into the emotional highs and lows of parenthood.
Crazy or Gutsy? Parenting in Your Forties and Fifties
Older, wiser — and adopting more than ever.
“Just Adopt”
When I was struggling with infertility, friends and family mistakenly said insensitive things. Now that I'm an adoptive parent, I'm more careful with my words.
Selecting Gender in Adoption
What prospective adoptive parents need to know if having a boy or a girl is important to them.
Talk to Me! — Treating Speech Delays in Adopted Children
Concerned about your child's speech or language development? About 10 percent of all children have difficulties in this area. But early intervention can turn the most reluctant talker into a chatterbox.
“Journey Towards Love: Mimi and her Grandfather”
For months a mother tried to convince her dad that he could be a grandparent to the little girl she was bringing home. It took the child considerably less time to bring him around.
Nosy Questions, Little Ears
Ever since our children were babies, we've heard them, ignored them, and answered them. But how do we handle them in the preschool years?
Connecting Through Everyday Baby Care
Dressing, feeding, burping, tickling, tucking into bed — the nuts and bolts of baby care bring the moments that can draw you together.
Share Your Story: Must Pack Items
We asked our readers which items no adopting family should leave home without.