March 22, 2015

Adoption News Roundup

Here’s a look at some of the news that caught our eye across the web this week!

We love this article written by an African American adoptive mother about raising strong African American children, and what it means to do that in a world that might try to weaken and discourage them. ” I want them to know that they are special just the way they are, so I look into their eyes and tell them so, every day. I want my daughter to appreciate her own unique beauty, including her natural hair. I wear my hair in a short fro, and I leave my daughter’s hair natural, styled in neat, double-strand twists, because it suits her. She always gets compliments. I don’t want her to think that beauty means having her hair straightened. She has gorgeous chocolate-brown skin, and I compliment her on it all the time. I tell my son that he is handsome and smart. I do this because I know from experience that there are people in this world who will tell them otherwise.”

What a great roundup from Adoptive Families showcasing the best adoption films from 2014! We’ll definitely be keeping this on hand. Which ones have you seen?

Do you agree with Kristin Howerton of Rage Against The Minivan…is it hard and scary to make mom friends?

What a great article from the Huffington Post: throwing a baby shower for people who are adopting! Definitely pass this around to friends and family who are wondering how best to celebrate you. So thoughtful.

A truly heartwarming list from Buzzfeed: 35 moments that making having kids totally worth it. These are so, so sweet.

Carrie Goldman shares three ways that adopting helped prepare her for other things in life, including owning her power. It’s so inspirational to see how the adoption experience grows you in such diverse ways. “By the time we were chosen to be parents, our caseworker had helped us own our power so that we came to the adoption table as equal partners rather than as supplicants. That’s the essence of such a partnership (which is not the same as co-parenting), and was a key factor in our children’s birth parents likewise not feeling like supplicants when the balance of power inevitably shifted after placement.”

400,000 birth certificates were unsealed in Ohio after new legislation made them available to people born between 1964 and 1996. What a life-changing day for those who now have such an important key to their past and who they are.