I can't finish up my posts for the letter "T" in my Transracial Adoption ABCs without a post on transracial adoption, since this is, in fact, the transracial adoption blog.

Transracial Adoption - Transracial adoption, in a nutshell, is when parents of one race adopt a child of a different race. These adoptions are also usually transcultural, meaning the family adopts a child from a different culture. While it is simple to define, it is far from a simple concept or topic.

My little post counter says that this is the 740th post I have written on the topic of transracial adoption, so obviously... more

While earlier in this Transracial Adoption ABCs series I wrote about adopting teenagers, today, the letter "T" is for toddlers.

Toddlers - Toddler adoption is a unique type of adoption. Many people make the false assumption that adopting a toddler is simply adopting a bigger baby or an older baby, and that line of thinking can cause problems.

When you read parenting books and articles, teens and toddlers seem to get the reputations for being the challenging... more

In my Transracial Adoption ABCs, the letter "T" is also for time.

Time - While "time" may not seem like an adoption word at first, there are many aspects of adoption that involve time.

Finding the right time to start your adoption can be tricky. Some parents want to wait until their homegrown children are older before they adopt. Some parents want their children to be close in age. Some programs require a certain age spacing between children. Some programs... 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

I figured I would take a break from some of the "heavy" topics I have been hitting lately and go back to my Transracial Adoption ABCs for a short while. I am up to the letter "T".

Tax Credit - Before you read any further, please understand that taxes are complicated, and I am no where near an expert on this. I don't even do my own taxes (my Dad's accountant does). So take this information as basic and as a starting point, and do your research, and when... more

I support transracial adoption.

I have stood in an orphanage in Vietnam and looked at babies four to a crib, lying there quietly, no longer bothering to cry when they needed something, with their names written in magic marker on their legs so they can be identified.

I have been in orphanages in Africa and held motherless babies, who beg you with their eyes not to put them down. I have had toddlers hanging off of every limb of my body, desperate for some personal attention and love, calling me "Mama" hopefully. I have talked with... more

Everybody needs support. There are support groups for all ages and stages of life and for all sorts of special situations. For many people, connecting with others who are going through what you are going through, or who have already experienced what you are experiencing and therefor truly understand, are invaluable.

Adoptive parents are no exception. Many adoptive parents find that while their extended family and their friends and coworkers may be excited about the adoption, that they often just "don't get it". And of course then there are... 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

Let's face it. Every parent knows that life is better, parenting is easier and the sun shines brighter when you are getting sleep at night. And for parents to get sleep, their kids need to be sleeping well at night. Therein lies the challenge. Today in my Transracial Adoption ABCs, I am going to write about sleep.

Sleep - If you go to Adoptionshop.com and search for "sleep", you will get over 50 products, most... more

The letter "S" is for siblings in this post of my Transracial Adoption ABCs.

Siblings - There is lots to think about when it comes to siblings and adoption.

Are you open to adopting siblings? Sibling groups are often the hardest to place, because many adoptive parents do not want more than one new child at a time, however it has been shown that siblings often do better with their adjustment than single children because they have each other as a "constant" in their lives.

From a child's point of view, being... more