Not as it is needed, or will be appreciated, but for everyone living the life of a Boomer, and those poor souls that have to follow our act, here's something to add to your list of worries ... inflation.

In this article in the Washington Post, you can read all about how your well-considered plans for financial comfort in your old... more

There has been a great deal of news happening, as always, and it is time to catch up with some of it.

Reports from Chad are all over the place with the confusing story of Zoe's Ark and whatever those people were trying to pull off.

The French charity workers claim their aim was to rescue 103 sick children from Darfur by flying them to France.

“The team is made up of firemen, doctors and journalists,” said Christophe Letien, the charity’s spokesman. “It’s unimaginable that doubts are being cast on these people of good faith who volunteered to save children... more

Before the adoption was finalized, the kids knew all about our cat. We’d sent pictures of her to them, and created a page in our family scrapbook just for her. They often asked about her, and by the time we were ready to bring them home, they were in love with her. Great, right?

Not so fast!

They loved her, but she was not prepared for them. She didn’t get that the pictures of the children on our refrigerator would soon be romping through the house. She didn’t realize she would be sharing space with two more children. She had no clue she would not have as... more

It is the time of year for room mother involvement, field trips, parties, etc that take place in the school. What does that have to do with foster care? Well, it should have a lot to do with it since you are the acting parent for your foster children. This is an area that foster parents tend to overlook or maybe outright ignore.

My husband is a special education teacher and a few years back I also worked with special ed. students. We both have also worked or had knowledge of foster parents in the school we worked with and have been very surprised how many foster parents do... more

There has been a lot of speculation about how adoption laws might change once the courts in Ethiopia open again after the Ethiopian New Year. There have been rumors about single women not being allowed, about families with more than 5 kids not being allowed, about requiring a two year difference in age between existing and adopted children, and about requiring no more than 43 years age difference between parent and child.

Reports are now starting to filter through the adoption e-groups about the first court cases. It seems that so far the proposed rule changes are still just proposals. Even the most likely... more

Most adoptees want to know things about their past and their birth families, which is totally natural and understandable. Kind of like with the adoptee’s birth certificate before adoption, we feel we should have the right to it since it is also a part of our beginning. The beginning of our birth is part of us along with our adoption and everything in between. This is where the sense of you can be found. One side does not tell the entire story or give us all the answers. Our existence is from two different sources, that are different but in some ways very much alike.

Can... more

In my previous post, I asked my readers for help locating a recent article I had read on the whereabouts of some of the children removed from Casa Quivira; many thanks to my friend Julie for sending me the link.

This information, posted on guatadopt on October 25th, 2007 informs us that two children from Casa Quivira are residing at Amor del Nino, an orphanage close to San Cristobal. The couple running Amor del Nino is Steve and Shyrel Osborne. Shyrel was interviewed for the ... more

Adoption already sets a family apart from other, more traditional families, but having an open adoption with a higher level of contact, tends to separate those families even further. At the same time a family in an open adoption might feel alone in their experiences, they also tend to be sort of a fascination to others. We often get the interesting comments, the shocked responses about our degree of openness, and sometimes the avoidance of other adoptive families, because you know what we “have” just might be catching. The feeling I would compare open adoption to is that of being... more

If you are the parent of a child with special needs (medical or behavioral), then you have most likely, at one time or another, had to deal with them during church services.

My oldest son has Type 1 diabetes, and when his blood sugar is very high, he needs to use the restroom frequently, in addition to needing to drink from the water fountain. My daughter has elimination issues in addition to behavioral issues, both of which require frequent trips out of the auditorium.

How do you deal with these issues without being a huge distraction, and ensuring that you get some worship time in as well?

Communicate: When we moved to this area and placed membership at the congregation... more

Prospective Adoptive Parents (PAPs) who are new to the adoption world can find our terminology overwhelming and confusing. In an effort to alleviate some of those feelings, I’m posting different glossaries that define terms commonly used in Viet Nam adoptions. If there are any terms of acronyms that you just can’t figure out, please let me know and I’ll do my best to find out for you. You can always comment below or email me at rebeccah@adoptionblogs.com

DOJ – the Department of Justice in your child’s province will examine your... more