This week we’re going over the steps involved in a Vietnamese adoption. So far, we have covered making the decision to adopt, deciding on Viet Nam, choosing an adoption agency and completing the home study process. Now we’ll move on to the process as it has to do with the USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services.) Basically, your home study grants their approval for you to adopt on a state level, and USCIS will grant approval on a federal level. They will also be the entity that examines your child’s paperwork to ensure that they are truly eligible for adoption according to their standards.

The first form that you will complete for USCIS is the I-600A (Application... more

After you have chosen your adoption agency and signed a contract with them, the next step is to get started on your home study. Although the home study culminates with an actual in-home visit by a social worker, there is also a great deal of paperwork and educational hours to complete. Some adoption agencies are also licensed to perform home studies in the state in which they reside. In our case, our adoption agency was not licensed to do home studies in our state, so they recommended a home study only agency to work with.

Home study requirements vary according to what state you live in and what country you are adopting from. The number of times you will be required to meet with your... more

LuLu is using her extra nanosecond of self-control in the right direction. She has a “thing” about plastic bags, especially trash bags. Her obsession on trash bags is a weird amalgam of trauma memories and sensory stimulation and was part of what got her in trouble with me the other late night.

What I didn’t realize until yesterday was that she’s fascinated, obsessed with…or tempted…by a trash bag in... more

Once you have placement of a child, you are going to need support. There are few adoptions that go through with no issues at all. There will be things that come up that you will want other parents’ input on or just a hug to say “been there, done that.”

There are many support groups already in place. You can connect with one of them, or start your own.

I prefer the on-line support groups, because they fit my schedule and I can “talk” to someone any time of the day or night. I know that these are other parents who are living the same life and dealing with... more

Perhaps you would like to share your opinion on this topic. Call it one of my pet peeves, tell me I am wrong if you want, or jump on my bandwagon. When I took the girls in for their six month dental cleaning, I was informed by the dentist that I needed to make separate appointments for fillings. Of course, the hygienist was trying to lighten the impact by telling me what beautiful teeth the girls have. They should, they brush and floss at least twice a day, sometimes with my help. Why did my adopted children need fillings in their beautiful teeth? Because they were sneaking chocolate... more

Sometimes referred to as a rash by parents, impetigo is bacterial infection of the skin that is contagious. Quite often children arriving from orphanages or entering foster care are plagued by these infections. This is probably due to poor sanitation, close and overcrowded living quarters, poor diet, and lack of medical care. The two most common forms of bacteria that are responsible for impetigo are streptococcus and staphylococcus bacteria. Streptococcus bacteria are also responsible for... more

We have all heard the phrase, "a face that only a mother could love." Not every person on the planet is physically attractive. In fact, if you looked at Hollywood's standard, 95% of the population could probably be described as unattractive. The same holds true for adopted children: Not every adopted child has the physical appearance necessary to appear on the cover of a magazine.

When a less than attractive child is raised by his biological parents, the entire family generally shares some of the same traits. However, when the child joins a family through... more

In the following posts, I talked about how some adoption agencies charge more to adopt a Caucasian baby than they do to adopt a non-Caucasian baby:

As I stated in those posts, I do not support the practice of putting non-Caucasian babies... more

Almost without preparation, my son Sam will today say good-bye to his first 'real' school, as the year has come to an abrupt ending that snuck up on me completely.

It seems like yesterday that I wrote about his first day in the Baie Lazare Crèche, the local version of kindergarten, but it was almost a year ago that we all went through the drama and trauma of big boy going to big boy school and all that entailed.

He cried every morning for a week when we'd leave him, but soon adjusted well and enjoyed his days.

He has learned to speak Creole over the year, and can... more

I'm deep in thought this morning, and rambling more than a bit, but would like to put some of the news leading the week on the table and invite everyone to pull up a chair.

Lanette's writing today on the Foster Care Blog strikes a chord as I compose posts, since much of the recent news ties into her thoughts and makes the questions she poses very timely.

I had written last week about a report into abuse by partners of mothers that results in terrible consequences... more