Gov. Charlie Crist denied he fathered a child 17 years ago. But some wonder whether he has an ethical duty to prove it.

I’m telling you, there is a new trend on the horizon. The trend involves adoption and politics. First, a presidential candidate, who happens to be an adoptee is considering a search for his birth mother. Then, another politician discovers a sibling who ends up attending his swearing-in eremony. The... more

As I mentioned previously, I read An Unlit Path in two installments… the first one in the car, using a penlight, on the way home from Chicago last weekend, and the second one late Monday night when I should have been catching up on my sleep from a grueling weekend! In between those two opportunities to read, I scoped out Deborah Hannah’s website. The picture you see here shows Deb, her husband Joe, and five kids. Hmmmnn, I thought, I am reading about a family that has four biological kids, an... more

We lived in North Carolina, and the baby was born in Georgia, so we had to fulfill all Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children (ICPC) requirements before we could legally leave the state. Even though the birthparents’ parental rights had terminated, we were still not allowed to go home.

When we adopted, the Georgia end of things was very efficient, but the North Carolina end was slow. I have heard that North Carolina’s ICPC processing has improved a great deal since then, and I hope that this is true because 16 days is a very long... more

I’m the first one to blog about a crime against children, always desiring to bring attention to this issue with the hopes of somehow doing this little something to either prevent, or to remedy, the situation.

Today I’ll be a bit more positive and link this story about third graders doing something good for the world, and I’ll point out that they are well on their way to learning the secret to a happy and fulfilling life.

The secret?

Quit worrying and fretting... more

I've never seen My Life Disoriented, and I kind of think I might be missing out on something. (My family's televisual entertainment relies solely on the poor man's Tivo: a DVD player + Netflix & the public library's video collection. I'd call it a "hipster Tivo," except all the hipsters seem to actually *have* Tivo.)

Anyway, it's the same basic premise as Boondocks -- kids from the (ethnically diverse) city move out to live with their grandparents... more

Recently this topic has come up in my family, its something we worried about prior to bringing Livi home but we did not really know how we would handle it and kind of let it go. It has been said by some family members that they feel that Livi was being showered with attention by other family members while their children & relatives were being left out in the cold so to speak. Other family members may not be so verbal in speaking out but perhaps show this in their actions in a passive aggressive way by completely ignoring our daughter,... more

The first month of 2007 has been a busy one here on the blogs. We've added new bloggers, tackled tough topics and learned a lot from one another. Personally, I've found this month to be quite invigorating when it comes to my own writing journey!

My Faith and Adoption series has been, thus far, a hit with readers of all types, including birth mothers, ... more

If the new regs coming into play in adoptions from China impact your family, you may be interested in joining this new Yahoo Group.

They've been having some trouble agreeing on a name, but have settled on "People Redirected from China". Here's their self-description:

Ineligible to adopt from China? Welcome. Already have Chinese children but no longer orphan eligible? Again, welcome. Where ever you live!

From where... more

I was surprised to read an article that stated that 15-30% of families with a disabled child in the United States probably have one or more unclaimed tax benefit. So, if you fall in that group, it’s time to learn what you need to know to start claiming the benefits your family qualifies for.

Medical Expenses are the big one. Included in those medical expenses is the cost of any special school that has a program specifically designed for your child’s disabilities... more

Every so often, I’d like to share a little about what it is like to be in Haiti from my personal perspective. The other day, I was answering the question about why it takes so long for an adoption to be completed in Haiti. One of my responses was “the Haitian Attitude”. I used dining in a restaurant as an example. After I was finished sharing a snippet about that, I had to chuckle to myself. There is nothing quite like dining in Haiti. It’s not that the food is so unusual (though chicken spaghetti or hotdog spaghetti are a little... more