It seems that in the media, transracial adoption (whether domestic or international) is often made out to be either trendy, the new "hip" thing to do, or, taboo, morally wrong in every way.

Many of us have seen the countless articles on international adoption that seem to be everywhere every time Angelina Jolie, Madonna or another big star adopts. These articles tend to have very little factual information in regards to adoption. Many of them "hint" that unethical practices are going on, without any facts or research. These articles also typically make it sound like to adopt a child, all you have to do is get yourself to a country and "shop" for a child.

There was lots of hype... more

When many people think about adoption, they picture prospective adoptive parents lined up a mile long, waiting for the next available "healthy, as young as possible" infant through whatever adoption program that they have chosen.

Many first-time adoptive parents feel that since it is their first adoption, and they do not have a lot of experience, that they could only "handle" a healthy infant.

We've been there and we've done that. Six years ago when we were in the middle of our first adoption, we had three young, healthy sons. We wanted... more

Adoption involves risk for adoptive parents. There are emotional risks as well as financial risks.

There are many emotions involved in choosing to adopt, and adoptive parents often start off the process feeling a combination of hopeful, nervous, excited and other emotions. Because adoption involves children, many do not look at it as "business", but adoption is a big business, and one where a lot of money changes hands.

Many adoptive parents feel vulnerable, and start the process hoping that the agency will approve them and will allow... more

If you take only one thing away from reading this blog, I hope that it will be that before you set out to adopt transracially that you research, research, research. Today in my Transracial Adoption ABCs, "R" is for research.

Research - Often times, deciding to adopt is a process. Sometimes it comes after a struggle with infertility. Sometimes it is something that the parents "have always wanted to do". Sometimes it is something one parent really wants... more

We are up to the letter "R" in my Transracial Adoption ABCs series and today I am going to write about race.

Race - Race is a often a controversial topic. While when people use the word "race" as a way of grouping people by the color of their skin and their physical characteristics (and sometimes also by where they were born), most scientists agree that the idea of humans being broken into groups by race is merely a social construct, and... more

In my Transracial Adoption ABCs, the letter "Q" is for questions. There are lots of questions involved in adoption. For the adoptive parents, there are many questions that they should ask (both themselves and others) and there are questions that they are going to be asked. In this post, I will write about the questions that transracial adoptive parents should be asking.

Questions to ask - Deciding to adopt transracially is a big deal, and it is not a decision that should be made light-heartedly. It is one that a lot of... more

In my last post, I wrote all about AHOPE, how I got involved with them and how I became committed to HIV+ children in Ethiopia.

Now I am going to write about how you can help the children of AHOPE.

I am the volunteer supplies coordinator for AHOPE. As you can likely imagine, housing and caring for 80 or so HIV+ children requires a lot of supplies. AHOPE relies heavily on donations for items such as clothing, baby care items, school supplies and basic medical supplies. And because it is very costly to ship things to Ethiopia and AHOPE would have to pay fees to receive the packages, they rely on traveling... more

Today I am going to write about something that I am passionate about, and something that is very near and dear to my heart. Today I am going to write about AHOPE.

AHOPE stands for African HIV Orphans: Project Embrace. AHOPE Ethiopia is an orphanage for HIV+ children in Addis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia. AHOPE Ethiopia is a NGO (non-governmental organization).

AHOPE for Children is the non-profit corporation licensed in the state of Washington that funds AHOPE Ethiopia. AHOPE for Children is also recognized by the U.S. Treasury... more

I have a confession to make.

I am an adoption rule breaker.

I am really not usually the rule-breaking type. I was on the honor roll in high school and graduated fifth in my class of over 500 students. I have always been “early to bed, early to rise”. I don’t curse. I go to church every Sunday. When I was little, all that my dad had to do to discipline me was to say he was disappointed in what I had done, and I was a blubbering mess. I have been accused of being a “goody two shoes”. I have never even had my ears pierced.

And... more

I have been writing this week on how we have chosen the transracial adoption programs that we have used and how we came to build our family. I hope that by sharing this it will answer a lot of the questions I have received lately, and that it will also help some other families find the right transracial adoption program.

When I left off, we had adopted a young baby girl from Vietnam, a special... more