Everybody knows that there are aspects to parenting that are just "yucky" and unpleasant, but are also just part of the job, such as poopy diapers, middle of the night "throw-ups" and snotty noses.

Well, when you adopt a child internationally, there is often a whole new side of "yucky stuff" to deal with. This stuff is unpleasant and sometimes down right gross. Some of it can be a real pain in the rear to get rid of. But in the grand scheme of parenting, it is all pretty minor stuff, and stuff that you can get past with the right tools, especially... more

Health is often a big issue and a major concern when it comes to adoption, especially when a family is adopting a child internationally.

Depending on where you are adopting from, you may get a great deal of medical information on the child you are adopting, or you may get very limited and basic information. The information you get may be up to date and "on par" with U.S. standards, or it may be somewhat unreliable because of the conditions of where the care was given or the quality... more

OK, so a lot of you have sent me emails just dying to know what I was going to pull out of my hat for letters X, Y and Z in my Transracial Adoption ABCs. Let me say that doing all of these posts has not been as easy as I thought it would be. So forgive me, but for the letter "X" I am going to cheat just a wee bit. "X" is for "eXamine your life".

Choosing to become a transracial family is a big deal. It is not a decision to be made quickly or to be taken lightly. While... more

I am going to squeeze one more post out of the letter "W" in my Transracial Adoption ABCs.

Waiver - While this is not an adoption topic that will affect the majority of families that adopt internationally, it is an issue that is near and dear to my heart and is something that is affecting more and more adoptive parents all of the time.

The "waiver" is an extra step to the immigration process that is required for a child that is HIV+ (there is also a waiver required for children who test positive for TB). At most embassies, a medical is done as part of the immigration part of the international... more

Continuing on in the letter "T" in my Transracial Adoption ABCs, today I am going to write about teenagers.

Teenagers - Teenagers are an age group that is often overlooked in the adoption world. It seems just about everyone wants a baby. Toddlers are often fairly easy to place as well. Our son, at the ripe old age of five, was considered to be an "older child" with the agency we used to adopt him from Ethiopia.

Teenagers are often challenging to parent, even when they are your biological children and have spent their entire... more

As I have been writing about transracial adoption and the topic of how it is often portrayed as trendy or taboo, I have gotten a lot of great comments that I wanted to ensure did not get overlooked.

Here are some of the comments that I wanted to share, and my responses.

Rebecca, from the Vietnam Adoption Blog said:

I'd really like to know what all the people who think transracial adoption is morally wrong propose to do about all the children (abandoned,... more

In case you have not heard this yet, on Sunday in Alabama, a family that checked into an RV park was told that their two year-old son was not allowed to use the pool, showers or common areas of the park because he is HIV+.

Silvia and Dick Glover are foster parents to little Caleb, and are in the process of adopting him. Silvia mentioned in casual conversation with someone in the park office that the boy is HIV+, when they were discussing his adoption. Shortly thereafter, they were told he could not swim or use the showers or common areas of the... more

Over the past few days I have been writing about the ways in which the media and others in society tend to portray transracial adoption as either trendy or taboo.

For me, what it boils down to is that transracial adoption should not be trendy or taboo. It is, for adoptive parents, one way to build a family, and it is, for a tiny percentage of the millions of orphans in this world we live in, the best possible solution and the best chance for them to live a full and happy life, with their physical and emotional needs being met.

I... more

In my last post I wrote about how the media tends to portray transracial adoption as "trendy".

In this post I am going to look at the flip side, and how many portray transracial adoption as taboo.

Wikipedia defines Taboo as:

A taboo is a strong social prohibition (or ban) against words, objects, actions, discussions, or people that are considered undesirable or offensive by a group, culture, or society. Breaking the taboo is usually considered objectionable or abhorrent. Some taboo activities or customs are prohibited under law... more

In my last post I posed a question to all of you. I asked if you think transracial adoption is trendy, taboo or neither? And along with that question, I asked why does the media feel the need to paint the picture of transracial adoption to be either trendy or taboo?

Today I am going to write about the "trendy side" of transracial adoption (as portrayed by the media).

Many articles related to transracial adoption present transracial adoption... more