March 16, 2016

Adoption News Roundup

Happy Thursday!

Here’s a look at what we’ve been reading this week…

Do you ever feel like you need to be Martha Stewart to pass your home study? You are not the only one. “The social worker is due in a few hours. We’re basically ready. I mean, we’ve cleaned this house like nobody’s business. And we’ve put rock salt all over the driveway so she won’t slip. I was going to make applesauce so the house would have the warm, welcoming smell of cinnamon. But now I’m thinking I should bake bread instead. Or how about a fire in the fireplace? The smell of a fire definitely says: Home. But what is the smell of Parent? More specifically, what is the smell of Good Parent Material? The social worker is coming to consider us. She’s coming to our house today to do a “home study,” step one in the adoption procedure.”

Love this! 50+ kids books that depict mixed-race families.

You’ve made your match, your child has been born, you got on a plane and to the hospital…and now you have to spend three weeks with a newborn in a hotel room. Don’t worry, you can survive this.

Did you adopt a child from another culture? We love these tips for helping to encourage them to love their biological roots.

No matter what state you live in, this guide is hugely important to keep on hand. Birth parent rights vary state by state, but from counseling to legal representation, it’s important to keep these basic rights in mind when working through your adoption process.

This adoptive mother puts herself in her child’s birth mother’s shoes. “She was homeless, you see, living somewhere rural outside of the city. Since she hadn’t known she was pregnant, she didn’t realize she was going into labor until the event was well underway. So she gave birth outside, alone, in the middle of the night, underneath a tree. The next day, she walked a mile to the nearest road, hitchhiked to the hospital, and asked the nurses to make sure her baby boy grew up in a family that could care for him and love him in a way that she didn’t feel equipped to. And then she left, alone.”