Being an older parent means finding new friends- but does it mean dumping the old ones?

Sometimes I'm the one being dumped. Some of my friends from years past don't get this parenthood thing in my forties.

The truth is, I did loose a few friends when I became a parent for the first time in my 40's. The other night I even found out that close acquaintances weren’t even that close anymore. K and I went to an art show and got completely rejected. (I wrote about it on the fost-adopt... more

One of the best memories we have about Kazakhstan is its food. Yes, we are big eaters by nature. I remember a family reunion on my side as a child. We had just finished a large buffet breakfast, and someone innocently asked, well, what do you think we should do for lunch? As my Uncle Charles eloquently put it: "We Boltons are eaters. It's what we do. We eat."

Add to the fact that yours truly is a wannabe Iron Chef, and you can see why I was so interested in learning all about Kazakh cooking. To be honest with you, Kazakh cooking... more

This article, “Why is race still a factor in adoption?” was recently brought to my attention.

The story was recently published in the Philadelphia Inquirer and tells a heartbreaking story about a three year-old African American foster child named Kevin, who had been living with the same foster couple for two years. The couple, who are the only mom and dad that Kevin can remember, were planning on adopting him. Oh, and they are white.

Without warning, county officials and police entered the home and removed the child, who of course was crying and scared. He was placed with another family, of who little... more

The cable in our hotel room here on our last night in Beijing has been kind of fun -- there's an Indian music video channel which is a lot of fun -- but we just hit some cable entertainment news thing that went straight from the release of Oliver Twist in China (and why Roman Polanski couldn't come to do promotion for its premiere) and the heartwarming orphans into Tom Cruise, whose Mission Impossible 3 is getting huge promotion on TV, talking about how he has to fly out from the location in Rome back home to Katie and the emotional rush of being a first time father and we're sitting here thinking, "Wait a minute, you [expletive deleted]... didn't you adopt two kids with Nicole... more

As parents we often tend to over do for our children. We fix their plates, we pick out their clothes, we cut up the meats, we pick out the socks. Which are all good and helpful things to do for toddlers. It only becomes a problem when we allow it to be carried over into the older years.

It is not a question of can they do it. It is more of a Why they choose not to do it for them selves.

My daughter often gives me grief in the morning to find her socks or a shirt. It could be laying right beside her but yet she has to have me come find it for her.

To get her used to being independent and getting her own clothes ready for school. We made it part of our night... more

Mark and Sam and Cj have just gone off on an adventure. While Mark totes Cj in the baby pack, Sam carries snacks in his 'packpack', and the anticipation of a good time being had by all is high.

Watching my husband go happily off with both kids puts me in mind of all the hopefully adoptive mothers I hear from who are dealing with what are almost affectionately called, "reluctant spouses".

Well, Ladies, I think we may just have to admit to ourselves that some men can be a bit slow on the up-take. I know. I know. That's a very sexist statement and well deserving of... more

In Cleveland:

Adoption Network Cleveland recently received the 2005 Anisfield-Wolf Memorial $20,000 Award from the Center for Community Solutions and the Cleveland Foundation.

The network was recognized for its work in finding permanent adoptive families for children and teens in Cuyahoga County. The annual award recognizes outstanding service by a nonprofit organization serving Greater Clevelanders.

Congratulations... more

Taiwan is one another one of those smaller Asian adoption programs that seems to be getting more and more attention as parents look for options other than the long referral waits associated with China and Korea. In 2005 the USCIS reported 141 adopted children from Taiwan coming into the U.S. on immigrant visas.

Taiwan is a small island off of mainland China, with a population of over 22 million people. Birth mothers in Taiwan are given the option of choosing a family for their baby, which is unlike most international adoption programs. The birth mothers in Taiwan are well... more

In Part 1, I commented on how difficult it could be for a birth mother who had named her child to call her child by a different name at reunion. I wonder how many birth moms whose children were not adopted at birth are unable to ever to make the switch?

Is there is a subconscious desire to not accept that the child has another name? Perhaps, it is a stubborn conscious refusal? I have heard from several adoptees whose birth mothers refused to call them by their adoptive names. Others said that... more

What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.

- William Shakespeare

Names and labels are a hot topic in adoption. Many adoption bloggers have addressed the issue of whether children should be given new names if they already have names at the time of adoption. But, what about names in relation to search and reunion?

Adoptees searching often have a desire to know if they were named at birth. Finding a birth name during a search often seems to be an exciting, but, sometimes also a somewhat odd... more