Our readers share their recommendations for gifts for birth parents at the time of placement. Their advice? Keep it small and personal!
10 Domestic Adoption Travel Tips
Try these tips to travel lighter and more easily for domestic adoption.
How Should We Deal with Unsupportive Relatives?
How do you respond to family members who say they don't understand why you're adopting? Members of AdoptiveFamiliesCircle share their advice.
Building “Nontraditional” Families
Our legal expert explains what gay, lesbian, and single parents need to know when building their nontraditional families during the process of adopting.
Comments from Adults of Your Child’s Race
When you're raising a child of another race, you may find that adults of that race approach you with questions or comments. AF's transracial adoption expert explains what you can say.
“Maternal Instincts”
My daughter's birth mother helped me trust my own maternal instinct.
Are Adoptees Selfish For Wanting To Search?
Finding my birth family has never been an attempt to replace anyone else, but simply an effort to find myself, a desire my adoptive family understands.
“Unexpected Contact with Our Child’s Birth Mother”
We hadn't planned on an open adoption. But when my daughter's birth mother requested a letter, how could I say no?
“Prison Baby”
In this personal essay, one adoptee describes all the questions she wanted to ask her birth mother when she visited her birth country: a jail.
Ask AF: Creating a Lifebook for a Teen
One adoptive mother wonders if she should make a lifebook, even though she doesn't have many photos of his life before he came to her. AF readers respond.
Ask AF: Proof of Parenthood
When I take my daughter of a different race to the dentist or gym, I'm often asked to provide a document confirming my parenthood. Is this OK?
Ask AF: When Rocking Behavior Interferes with a Good Night’s Sleep
Our adoptive son rocks before going to sleep, and it's started waking him up at night. How can we help him break out of this disruptive bedtime routine?
Ask AF: Talking About a Birth Parent’s Death
Our expert explains how to navigate the difficult discussions about a birth mother death with a very young child: what to say, and when to start talking.
Parenting an Older Child Through the Testing Phase
Our readers asked how to parent their adoptive children through the testing phase. Our expert has answers for dealing with lying, carelessness, and anger.
Our Readers Share: The Best and Worst Comments About Adoption
We asked our readers, and they shared the rudest and most beautiful comments about adoption they've heard from friends, strangers, and family alike.
Foster Adoption Resources
Adoptive Families supports a year-round focus on foster adoption. These web resources provide support and practical assistance for families.
It Takes Two — Lily & Gillian
Identical twins, separated at birth — but raised as sisters since the day they were born — are giving new meaning to the phrase "blended family."
Readers Share: Post Adoption Depression
It happened to me… (Share your story below!) When our daughter was about one year old, the euphoria of being a mother began to wear off, and I understood, for the first time, how difficult the loss was for our daughters birthmother. I felt very guilty and sad when I thought about<a href="https://www.adoptivefamilies.com/adoption-bonding-home/readers-share-post-adoption-depression/" title="Read more" >...a>
Double The Love — Anaïs & Sam
A set of identical twins who were separated at birth and adopted by different families — not to be reunited until age 27.
“Two Days to Adoption”
We’d had seven days notice for our first adoption. For our second, four. Now, two. It was as if we’d been training for this moment, and we were at peak performance.