March 04, 2014

Adoption News Round-Up

It’s been a packed week for the adoption world…here are some of the stories you may have missed out on:

This brave birth mother shares her experiences dating, and why she always tells people she’s a birth mother on the first date.

The UK is instituting a new adoption service that allows people who have been strictly vetted to directly search registries of children waiting for adoption, rather than have their adoptions moderated by social workers or agencies. Their goal is to help place hard-to-adopt children at a faster rate.

The state of Utah gets another hit when it comes to ethical adoption protocol, when the attorney general urged Utah judges yesterday to reject applications from same-sex couples. This type of blatant, active discrimination is completely unethical. One couple is feeling the effects of this ruling on their family big time, as Kathy Harbin is unable to adopt the couple’s sons, whom they parent together but to whom Michelle actually gave birth.  Harbin says, “The thing that feels the most uncomfortable…is for the boys to have to understand that for some reason their family is not as good as somebody else’s family.”

An agency in the UK has brought a new type of therapy into their office that involves the use of a projector. This exciting technology is meant to help personalize therapy sessions to greater connect with children, and was so kindly donated for free when the agency expressed interest in the technology, but couldn’t afford it. Love seeing the kindness and selflessness of others!

Although adoptees are still not allowed to search for birth records themselves in New Jersey, a new bill is up for legislation which allows “‘confidential intermediary; from an adoption agency to search for an adult’s biological parents. If after a year-long ‘diligent’ search the birth parents are not found, the birth certificate would be released. Parents who are found and want no contact with a child surrendered long ago would be asked — but not required — to provide a complete medical history to share with the adopted person.” Although we’re always gunning for equal rights across the board, it’s good to see steps being taken to help adoptees secure access to their history.

Are you an adoptee who has searched for your birth records or birth parents? What was that process like for you?