Today I have more from the letter "M" in my Transracial Adoption ABCs, and more to write about on adoption and money.

As I wrote about in my last post, money is a big issue in adoption. In my last post I wrote about the challenges of paying for an adoption, and gave some suggestions on getting the funds together.

In this post I am going to talk about where the money goes in adoption, and the power money can have.

I always tell adoptive parents that when they are investigating adoption... more

Today's post in the Transracial Adoption ABCs is brought to you by the letter "M".

Money, money, money – Money is such a big issue in adoption that I wrote it three times. :)

One of the very first things that people tend to ask me when they are inquiring about adoption is, “But isn’t it really expensive to adopt?”

The truth is, it IS pretty dang expensive to adopt, but I have seen time and time again how doable it is, and how even when it seems like there is no way to come up with the money that you need, that when there is the will (and some faith and some determination), there... more

In this post, I have more from the letter "M" for my Transracial Adoption ABCs.

Moms - Adoption has a lot to do about moms. While I always say that adoption is about children first and foremost, and it is, adoption is also about moms.

It is about moms who want children, but do not have any.

It is about moms who have children, but cannot, or chose not to, care for them.

It is about moms who have children, but have a desire for more.

It is about moms who have to make heartbreaking decisions.

It is about moms who sacrifice much for the sake of the children... more

Today I have more from the letter “L” in my Transracial Adoption ABCs.

Life Book - A life book is a sort of scrapbook, baby book and journal, that is used to tell the life of an adopted child. Life books are created to help tell a child’s story for the child’s benefit.

A life book usually contains a mixture of text, photos and documents/memorabilia that helps tell about where a child was born, when a child was born, what his life was like, who his birth parents and birth family were (if known), what circumstances led to the child being placed for adoption, major events in the chld's life,... more

Today we have more from the letter “L” in our Transracial Adoption ABCs.

Large Families – Large families is a topic I write about fairly often, because it is one that is near and dear to my heart. As the mom of 10 awesome kids, married to one amazing man and living a life that is unspeakably better than I ever could have imagined or dreamed, I see a large family as a wonderful way to raise kids.

While large families used to be very common, in the past few decades in the United States the average family size has been continually shrinking. However, as adoption has become more of a “norm”... more

In my last post in my Transracial Adoption ABCs I started discussing language in domestically adopted children. In this post I will look at language in internationally adopted children.

Language - Now when you adopt internationally, you are almost always dealing with a child that has grown up speaking a language other than English. If you imagine for a moment what it would be like to be brought to a whole new country where no one spoke English, and no one could understand what you were trying to... more

We are up to letter "L" in my Transracial Adoption ABCs posts, and I have lots of posts to file under "L". :)

Language – If you are adopting a child that is not an infant, language is going to be an issue. If you are adopting domestically, obviously language is going to be less of an issue than if you were adopting internationally, and yet language is often an issue even in domestic adoptions.

First, I will discuss language in domestic adoptions. It is very common for children adopted from foster care to have some degree of speech delay. Speech delays can result from alcohol and/or drug... more

For my post for the letter “K” in my Transracial Adoption ABCs series of posts, I have one important topic to discuss.

Know your stuff – This is the best piece of advice that I can give to prospective adoptive parents. It is wonderful and exciting and overwhelming to make the decision to adopt, and I know that for many families, making that decision comes after suffering through infertility, having one spouse being reluctant about adopting,... more

We are moving right along in learning our Transracial Adoption ABCs, and now we are up to the letter “J”.

There is not a whole bunch of stuff that starts with the letter “J”, but I came up with a few ideas.

JCICS - JCICS stands for “Joint Council on International Children’s Services” and it is one of the oldest and largest child welfare agencies that focuses it’s attention on intercountry children’s services.

They advocate for adoption for children in need of families, promote ethical adoption practices and standards, and provide education for adoptive parents and professionals... more

More Transracial Adoption ABCs, under the letter "I".

Immigration – (I apologize to any readers from countries other than the U.S.A., because this entry is specific to American citizens.)

Immigration is a part of all international adoptions, as a visa is currently required for all internationally adopted children to legally enter the United States of America.

The government office over immigration has changed its name several times in recent years. They have been known as INS, BCIS, CIS and USCIS. The name they are using now (for the moment) is USCIS, which stands for United... more