July 21, 2015

Adoption News Roundup

We are dead in the middle of summer, and that means breaks indoors, sipping cool beverages in the AC and catching up on our reading. Here are some of the stories that stuck with us recently!

These seven families forged an unbreakable bond after they all adopted their children from China. Among the many amazing things they do, each year they hold a giant birthday party for their girls — all of whom were born just weeks apart from each other!

This powerful editorial says that we need to close down every prison for children. “Then it hit me: We don’t think and talk about these young people the way we talk about our own children. Most of the young people locked up in that facility were black and brown children. Our society has created ugly and dehumanizing stories about black and brown people for centuries, and those stories continue to this day in one form or another.”

This list shares the astonishing number of famous individuals, intellectuals and cultural icons who were fostered or adopted, grew up, and did something exceptionally powerful. There’s no doubt — if you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything. Plus, as a foster or adoptive parent, you could be raising the next Leo Tolstoy, Coco Chanel, or or Nelson Mandela!

What a thoughtful piece written by a foster mother who has developed a relationship with another foster mother — each of whom are parenting one of a pair of biological brothers. It’s a tricky situation, one not easily understood from the outside, but her thoughts, emotions, and honesty are heartwarming to read.

A well-rounded look at how to survive the homestudy, courtesy of Adoptive Families.

How did you choose what to name your child?

Has your child ever written you a hilarious note that you knew you’d keep forever? This one is pretty great.

This beautiful piece, written by a birth mother who has a very active open adoption, shines a powerful light on the variety of emotions a birth mother goes through during what is a lifelong process. There is so much raw honesty here. We would love to see all open adoptions seek to be so understanding.