There are some myths about foster care adoption. Let’s look at the reality of these myths.

Only older children or teens are available for adoption – Really there are children of all ages who are waiting for homes. Older children and teens are higher in number than younger children. The average age of a child waiting for adoption is about eight years old, but that is the average. That means there are children on either side of that age that are available. If you are looking to adopt a younger child you may have to wait longer for a placement,... more

Are you happy right now? If so, can you put it into words? If not, can you describe what happiness would look like to you? Would you know if you were happy? Do you know when you aren’t happy?

It’s taken me fifty something years to begin to figure out what happiness looks like for me. I believe I’m happy because I’m doing what I want to do, I’m living where I want to live with the folks I want to live with. I love my church and my community, my friends and my family and I love what seems to be the main objective or purpose in my life.

I need to teach my children... more

Many adopted children arrive to your family without previous church or religious experience. Because your family embraces Christianity, you would naturally want your newly adopted child to embrace Christianity. Unfortunately, as parents we cannot make our newly adopted child embrace faith. Certainly, we are able to take a young child to our church. We are able to instruct our newly adopted child in Christian principles. We can pray daily for our child’s salvation. Ultimately, the child must make the decision.

In the new testament of the Bible, Jesus used parables... more

Raising a special needs child can offer quite a challenge to parents. Last week, in a town nearby, a 28-year-old woman went missing from her family home. The family described their daughter as very intelligent and loving. Many people from surrounding areas are diligently searching for this young woman. Our temperatures here in Michigan have hovered around a bitter zero degrees Fahrenheit over the past week. It definitely is not safe to spend much time outside unless... more

One of things you may deal with is visits with siblings. In most cases this discussion would take place before a child is placed in your home. Sometimes this can change if a child is born after your child is already in care. In foster care or pre-adoptive placements it can be mandatory that you agree to visits, but many times they are optional after an adoption is finalized.

I have only had kids where we have done sibling visits. In both Sammy and Hannah’s cases we still do. If Kory and Mackenzie had stayed we would have continued visits with their... more

I’m constantly searching for more information on the registration process for in-process adoptions. This is what I have found to date.

The lawyer handling your adoption must complete the paperwork (a copy of which you can see here) and then submit it to the new Central Authority. In addition to details about the adoption case, these forms require the finger and footprints of the child to be adopted. Apparently a lot of the information on these forms relates to the Power of Attorney (POA) document. Perhaps this is an indication that the POA will be the requirement to be grandfathered in under the... more

The other day I was talking to my daughter’s birth great-grandma on the phone. She is having quite a few issues with the baby half-brother of my daughter, who she is raising. Of course I am concerned about them both, and I wanted to see how things are going for her. The little guy is developmentally lagging behind, although all of us are certain of his intelligence. For me the attachment/ loss issues could be a lot of what is happening and is as plain as the nose on my face. Great grandma is seeing some of it, but unfortunately not enough at this point in time. I have been... more

While I have talked about foster parents needing a support system, we also have to have an ongoing support system for any foster children that come into our home. The support system for your foster children will continue to grow and develop as you foster. I here oh, so often that Child Welfare is not assisting the foster parent with issues they are having or helping get foster children the care they need. While I totally believe that they should be the ones to assist the... more

I recently received an e-mail from Kids Are Waiting to alert me to an upcoming news conference. I’m sure everyone on their e-mail list received this e-mail but it is worth sharing.

On Tuesday, January 29, at 9:30 AM Eastern time Kids Are Waiting will be holding a press conference to reveal the results of a the study by Prevent Child Abuse America and Kids Are Waiting. They will discuss the financial cost to the country of child abuse and neglect.

The numbers are shocking. In 2007 the financial cost was a staggering... more

Russia continued to come out of its winter holiday slumber this week, but unfortunately not with more accreditations.

On Friday, Russia signed a multibillion-dollar deal with Serbia to make the Balkan nation a key transit point for the natural gas pipeline that Russia is building to supply Europe. In addition, Gazprom announced that it is taking a controlling stake in Serbia's government-owned oil company. According to the Associated Press, the Russian government-controlled... more