I admit that I don’t know much about open adoption because we have two closed adoptions. Our adoptions are closed. They are international adoptions. We are okay with that.
Do we talk to AJ about his birth mother? No. He can’t handle it yet. I wish he could but he can’t. We talk to him, instead about Russia. About the orphanage. About the country he came from, not about “where” he came from.
I wish I could because she is part of me too. No matter where my child is from his birth parents are a part of him and we need …read more

Today’s guest post is from yet another b5media writer and adoptee. Julie Bonner has an amazing birth story and journey.
 
Adoption has always been a close topic to my heart. I was adopted when I was 8 months old. I went back and forth for years when I was a teenager trying to decide if I wanted to search out my birth mom. I never took that leap of faith and I really didn’t realize why until I was older. It was because I was scared. I was scared that I would open myself and my family up to a relationship …read more

From domestic to international adoptions, from first moms to adoptees, from same sex parents to transracial families…the best of the best adoption blogs out there on the internet.
General
Anti-Racist Parent
A Birth Project

Adoptive Parents
Domestic
Production, not reproduction
Plain Jane Mom Letters to a Birthmother
Gotcha Baby
Baggage and Bug
Fostering Pride
Overwhelmed with Joy
This Woman’s Work
The Other Mother
Mayhem and Magic
Peter’s Cross Station

International
My Two Boys
Salsa in China
Jesus was Not a Republican
Two Different Loves
It Only Takes One Step
Pundit Mom
A New Flower Blooms
Artificially Sweetened
Alison and Jim’s Adoption Journey
Come Undone
Now What?
Just Enjoy Him
Third Mom …read more

Parenting is full of grief.
Adoption, relinquishment, loss, abandonment, neglect, abuse, are full of grief.
Infertility and miscarriage are full of grief.
And no one type of grief can trump the other. 

I have been working on this post all day and I have been hesitant to click the publish button because I don’t know how it will be perceived. Words are very unpredictable. But I am taking the chance because I do want my voice to be heard; I just don’t want to be misunderstood.
Adoption has become a very controversial topic lately not only because of posts like this but even in the general public when people like Madonna adopt children who have parents still in the picture (and not ready to relinquish).
My husband and I adopted because we are …read more

Despite what views our society has traditionally had on orphans and adoption I am hoping that times will change and our children won’t be referred to as orphans (because statistically I believe that most are not actually orphans and because the connotation stinks).
However, if one looks at this fabulous list of adoptees, adoptive parents, and, yes, orphans, one will see that no matter where they came from or whom they were raised by, they are extraordinary people.
Is that nature vs. nurture?

The new laws in Guatemala indicate that there will be no more foster care. Instead, children will be handed over to orphanages after living the required six weeks with their birth parents.
The new law will practically eliminate the participation of notaries, while creating the National Adoption Council, an oversight agency including Guatemala’s Supreme Court and foreign relations and social development departments.
Kudos for creating an agency to oversee the procedures of the administrators.