I have said time and time again on this blog that it is essential for prospective adoptive parents to do their research when it comes to choosing an adoption program and an adoption agency.

Today I am going to give some advice on how prospective adoptive parents can research their options, and can move... more

One of the ways I continue to try and give back to Ethiopia, the country I have adopted two children from, is volunteering as the AHOPE Supplies Coordinator. AHOPE stands for African HIV Orphans: Project Embrace, and it is an orphanage for AIDS orphans in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The AIDS orphans at AHOPE have not only lost their families to HIV/AIDS, but they are now living with this terrible virus themselves.

AHOPE provides a loving environment for these children, as well as life-saving anti-retro viral medications... more

In my last post I wrote about some of the reasons why sleep can be a challenging issue for parents of newly adopted children.

In this post, I am going to offer some suggestions to help ensure that you and your child get as much sleep as possible in your early days together.

- Know what you child is used to, and as much as possible, make things familiar. Is your child used to sleeping with several other children in his bed? If so, he may sleep better in a room... more

In my last post, I shared a lot of the personal experiences we have had with our Belane in regards to attachment.

In this post I am going to offer some tips on building and fostering healthy attachment with your adopted child.

- Understand where your child is coming from. Think about his history and background and how that can affect his trust, attachment and adjustment. For many children who can remember the loss of their first parents, anxious attachment is common.

- Be prepared to do things differently than you have with your other children, and understand that you can not parent a newly adopted... more

In my last post I wrote about post-placement reports. I described what they were, when they are needed and why they are needed, and how important they are. When adoptive parents commit during the adoption process to comply with post-placement requirements it is a serious commitment, one that affects the future of adoptions, and not one to be taken lightly.

So here are some tips on how to get your post-placement reports done, and done on time.

-... more

In my last two posts, I have written about how we found the right adoption program for our family for our first transracial adoption, and then how we decided on where to adopt from for our second transracial adoption.

At that point, we had three biological sons, our daughter from Vietnam and our daughter from Korea. This time, the feeling that our family was complete did not come, and I felt pretty sure that we had more kids out there after Amanda had been home only a short while (she came home in April of 2003).... more

In the past few weeks I have gotten several emails/comments from readers asking how we came to adopt the children we did and choose the adoption programs that we did. I have written a lot on how to choose the right adoption agency and on transracial adoption options, but today I thought I would share with you the “technical side” or our adoptions, and how we came to make the decisions we did.

I hope that... more

In my last two posts, I have been writing about the reactions that my transracial adoptive family gets when out in public, and why it is important to prepare your children for the questions and comments your family may receive.

Here are some tips on preparing your kids–

- Talk to your kids honestly about why your family will likely receive extra attention. Starting with something simple, such as, “in most families, the parents and the children are all the same color and look somewhat... more

In my last post, I wrote about how difficult the waiting can be in adoption. Whether your wait for a referral is long or short, it is sure to be an anxious time. Whether your wait to travel is long or short, it is sure to be very challenging as you wait to be united with your child.

So how do you survive all that waiting?

Here are some tips.

- Remind yourself (frequently) that it will all be worth it once your child is home.

- Read! Read books on attachment and bonding. Read books and articles... more

I have written a lot about how to choose an adoption agency and there is a lot of attention given to the topic of choosing the agency that will process your adoption because choosing the right agency to handle your adoption is essential and vital to your adoption experience.

However I think that discussing how to specifically choose the agency that will do your homestudy, is often overlooked.

I wrote about starting your homestudy in this post, and I wrote about what... more