The decision of whether or not you should make an adoption plan for your unborn baby is not one that should be rushed into. It is a decision that takes a lot of thought, contemplation, and soul searching.

I think often times expectant mothers may feel rushed into making a decision. The impending due date is like an alarm clock sounding off and you may feel like you have to have a decision made, a family chosen, and everything ready before that due date comes. You know, I totally get that. I felt the same exact way during my pregnancy. I’m a planner by nature, so... more

Up until July of last year, I was the parent of only one child. One child, who by all accounts (and not just my biased one), is a pretty unique child in terms of behavior and temperament.

Thus, I fell into a trap that I think many new adoptive parents find themselves in: making everything about adoption. What I mean by that is, that every little behavioral “hiccup” had to be due to adoption-related issues (in my mind), rather than just developmental stuff that happens universally with all children.

In talking to close friends with children who were not... more

Transitioning foster children back to their family home is a difficult process for everyone involved. Regardless of their ages, the children will act out if they have been in the foster home for more than a few weeks. The way they act out will depend on their maturity level. Younger children may start throwing temper tantrums and have difficulty sleeping at night that may include nightmares. If the child was recently potty trained, it could be undone by the transitioning process. All children tend to treat their foster parents with increasing disrespect, as their return... more

I’m sure by now you’ve heard about the raid on the “compound” of a polygamist in El Dorado, Texas.

What hasn’t been as publicized is the fact that 416 children were removed and had to be placed in foster care. The Texas foster care system was already over taxed. Children were sleeping in the social services offices. Now we have just added another 400 plus children in one day. I can’t imagine how... more

This was the topic on the back of my bulletin in church today. It was encouraging the congregation to sponsor a child in need. It wasn’t my church specifically, but rather our denomination. I belong to the United Church of Christ and we are very mission based.

However, I had a bit of a problem with the message since kids in the United States were not mentioned at all. Don’t get me wrong, I know full well that kids all around the world need help. We send supplies to orphanages in Haiti and Honduras, but we also support kids here in the U.S.

I know some... more

In my last post, I wrote about some of the wedding related moments that I have been able to share with my son and his adoptive Mother as a result of open adoption. As I mentioned in that post, A was a bridesmaid in our wedding. But not only was it important to me for her to be a part of our wedding, it was important to me that N, Charlie’s sister by adoption, be a part of our wedding as well. I asked N to be a flower girl in our wedding.

You may be wondering why was it important... more

I had planned to blog about Bi-Polar disorder, when one of my readers, Ernest, gave me a link to a story from CNN. It is a story I can completely relate to. Several years ago a mother discovered that her son was plotting to shoot some students in his high school and idolized the shooters in the Columbine shooting.

One of the things mentioned in the article was that the young man had been diagnosed with Bi-Polar... more

I’m one of those weird people who actually likes my in-laws. I actually knew my father-in-law before my husband. We had worked together for a while. When we lived in Dallas, my mother-in-law and I had season tickets to different theatre events.

A couple of years ago when things with Sammy really got bad and Sammy’s violence was increasing my mother-in-law told me that she loved Sammy but her first allegiance was to me.

That’s not to say that it’s always been rosy in our relationship. We have had some clashes over parenting Sammy, but at... more

When my first grandchild was born, I insisted that my daughter let me baby sit for her when she returned to work. She may have been a little surprised because she came to live with us as a teenager and we adopted her when she was 15. During those days just after my granddaughter’s birth, I went to visit her and rock her almost everyday. My daughter had to return to work when her daughter was only five weeks old to support her. As you can imagine, I really bonded with my granddaughter during those early weeks. Eventually, our daughter Ami was born and placed with us through... more

You have fostered a child for several months or perhaps even a few years. During this time, you have loved the child as one of your own. The foster child may have even been in your home for such a long time that you can hardly remember what it was like without him or her. Sometimes a child is a really good fit into a home and this one was. There were times during the case plan when you wondered if you might be able to adopt the foster child. The birthparents just were not doing what they needed to do, but lately, in the eleventh hour, they have been doing everything... more