June 27, 2013

Adoption News Round-up

A very diverse week in adoption news! Some personal topics that hit home on many fronts, confronted by brave individuals whose inspiring stories speak for so many. (As well as how to apply sunscreen to your baby’s skin!)

This is a beautiful editorial written for the Huffington Post by Dustin Lance Black, who is the Oscar-winning screenwriter for the film Milk, and who also happens to have a gay brother. Tomorrow the Supreme decides whether or not to overturn Prop 8, which is California’s ban on gay marriage, and DOMA, which is a federal law that blocks legal same-sex partners from receiving benefits. This isn’t just about gay marriage, it’s about adoption as well, because those legal rights pertain to gay parents who want to adopt, and to all the children who could see families if these laws are overturned. Here’s hoping the government does the right thing.

Creating a Family posted a great article about a new twist in transracial adoption: black couples adopting white children. It’s usually the other way around, and black parents of white children face many of the same issues as white parents of black children. “As one black dad of a white daughter says, ‘I’ve never felt more self-consciously black than while holding our little white girl’s hand in public.’” But with 40% of adoptions being transracial, no matter which race is adopting who, the issues are still the same: how do you best parent a child of another race while dealing with the stigmas transracial adoption cause?

Parents Magazine has wonderful articles about topics every parent can relate to. They recently posted one that is particularly relevant to adoptive parents, on separation anxiety. “Where Mama Go All Day?” explores one parent’s challenge to explain to her child that she is not abandoning her during the day, and to educate her on what it is she’s actually doing. We’ve had similar conversations with our children, and it’s nice to read a well-written article by a parent who tackles the situation with success and grace.

A birth mother answers: did anyone try to talk you out of placing you baby for adoption?

Do you know how to apply sunscreen to your baby?