A thread was started on the forums this past week asking if the relationship between adoptive and birth parents in an open adoption was comparative to that of ex-spouses in a divorce. Nothing like trying to compare two emotionally charged familial subjects! My initial reply was that the two subjects are apples and oranges. I explained it well in one of my replies so I'll just go ahead and quote myself. (Does that make me seem like I have... more

You may feel horrible if you feel like you don’t like your child, but we all go through it. Even parents of biological “emotionally healthy” kids feel it.

To prove that you are not alone, I don’t like Hannah very much right now. For the past six weeks we have had a string of behaviors that we haven’t seen before and it’s driving me crazy. We have tried all kinds of interventions and none of them are working.

So what do you do when you don’t like your child?

Tag team parenting – We do this often, but haven’t done much of it lately.... more

Wow. Let me tell you something. Writing about both Birthmother's and Mother's Day last week left me drained. The constant focus on two emotionally charged subjects left me with absolutely nothing to say until today. And really, all I have to say today is that I survived the hullabaloo.

To be honest, I'm always in kind of a hungover stupor in the aftermath of Mother's Day weekend. While I had a nice time with my Husband and boys, my emotions were on overdrive. I was on edge, which my Husband noticed but respected. I snapped a few times when I wish I could... more

If you have been a foster parent for a few years then you may have noticed that there is a lot of turnover in foster care workers. I understand why, but it doesn’t make it any easier on the children, the foster parents, or the families. Foster care is an incredibly stressful job that really doesn’t pay all that well. I have seen help wanted advertisements for foster care workers, requiring a master’s degree, offering less money than a nurse or an accountant would make with an associate degree. What could possibly be more stressful than knowing a child’s... more

Do you ever watch videos on Youtube.com? This morning, an email from a friend directed me to a Youtube video of John Piper talking. He is discussing his opinion of adoption, which he feels is Biblically grounded, “Adoption is greater than the universe.” He explains himself thoroughly in about five minutes including quotes from the Bible to support his opinion. While I agree with his final directive, I am not in complete agreement with his interpretations. That’s all right though, because he is spreading... more

Many of us rushed off to the tanning salons when they began opening all over the country. Today, even the smallest towns seem to have at least one tanning salon making them easily accessible to teenagers. Many parents thought the tanning salons were safer than outdoor tanning and encouraged the use. After all, the time of exposure was limited, there was privacy, and teenagers could avoid a burn on vacation by getting a starter tan. If you have recently adopted a teenager, she may pressure you for a membership. She may think that a tan could help her fit in, make... more

There is an opportunity for you to share your adoption story with other adoptive families and have your story read around the world.

“A Cup of Comfort,” a series of books similar to “Chicken Soup for the Soul” is publishing two new books that all of our stories are a perfect fit for. The first book is “A Cup of Comfort for Adoptive Parents” and the other is “A Cup of Comfort for Parents of Children with Special Needs.” I’m sure we can all write stories that will fit the format of what they are looking for.

Here is the submission request for the... more

A new study found that children who were exclusively breastfed for at least the first three months of life scored about six points higher on IQ tests at six years old then those who were bottle fed or partially bottle fed. As an adoptive parent, do you feel a twinge of guilt when you hear about this type of study? Yes, it is possible to breastfeed adopted babies for some people who are able to plan a few months in advance. However, it takes a lot of effort, doesn’t always work, and if the birthmother... more

Last week I blogged about a disturbing story out of Wisconsin. A twenty-seven year old mother killed her two year old son because voices in her head told her to. At the time the story indicated that the mother, Brenda Thiel, was a government employee.

Call it mother’s intuition, but I had a feeling she worked with children or in social services, and my instincts were right. The Saturday edition of “The... more

If you just adopted a sibling group then you are very busy parent trying to establish a routine. You are trying to get used to have two, three, or four times the number of people in your family. Of course, that means more cooking, more grocery shopping, more laundry, more cleaning, and more transporting. It can be down right hectic at times and you could use some support. The last thing you need right now is another thing on your parent “to do” list. If your life is anything like mine, you don’t have time to watch television, read magazines, or even file your fingernails.

What... more