In my last post, I stated that adoption is a business, as part of my definition of adoption. Remember that each of these posts are just a tiny piece of my definition of adoption, and to get the big picture, you need to read the entire series. :)

To add to yesterday's post, I am going to say that adoption is expensive. It is an unfortunate reality. I remember back when I first started thinking about adopting. My husband had had a vasectomy... more

Today I am going to start to give a more detailed definition of what adoption is to me. Remember that this is just a tiny piece of my definition of adoption, and to get the big picture, you need to read this entire category.

For starters, adoption is a business.

I start with that, because it is something that a lot of adoptive parents seem to not be aware of, especially when they are first starting out on their adoption journeys.

It is easy, when you first start looking into adoption,... more

Hopefully all of my readers are aware of the fun giveaway I am holding for National Adoption Month thanks to Curls. If you haven't participated yet, please make sure you visit that post and leave a comment.

To participate in the giveaway I am asking readers to define adoption. As I have said, depending on your place in the adoption triad and your own personal experience with adoption, these personal definitions can vary greatly.

Originally I planned on sharing... more

Unlike the last article I wrote about, which I think did a good job of taking a real look at some of the complexities, ethics, emotions and issues surrounding international and transracial adoption, this article, titled "Foreign Orphans Better Than Our Own", is total nonsense (in my not so humble opinion).

I get satire. I get sarcasm. I have a pretty dang good sense of humor, if I do say so myself. But to me, this article is poorly written, and was written for seemingly no other reason than to stir up emotions and... more

I hate titles like the one this article has, "Did I Steal My Daughter? The Tribulations of Global Adoptions".

But, despite the sensational title, I think this is a pretty decent article.

The article is written by an adoptive mother, who, along with her husband, adopted a baby girl from Guatemala. The article goes through the family's emotions and thoughts before their daughter joined them, their thoughts and experiences during the placement and then their emotions, thoughts and developing concerns once they brought their daughter home.

Do adoptive families have the... more

Not knowing how old your child is can be a stressful thing for adoptive parents. Some parents know before their child arrives that the child's given age is a "best guess" (and could therefor be inaccurate) and some people discover upon placement that the age they were given for their child is off big time. I traveled with a family to Ethiopia last year who thought that they were adopting a toddler and a preschooler, and got to Addis and received two children who were years older.... more

The idea that you could possibly not know how old your child is, sounds really bizarre to most people. I cannot tell you how many times after Ben came home that someone would ask me how old he was, and my answer of "about five" would be met with crazy stares and looks of disbelief.

In reality though, it is really not uncommon for adoptive parents, who are adopting internationally, to not know the exact age of their child for a variety of reasons. In many countries, birthdays are not celebrated or even acknowledged. Birth certificates and records that we are used to are... more

Adoptive parents know that one of the hardest aspects of the process is the waiting (and if you notice this theme in my posts lately, you can tell this is not being easy for me!)

Waiting on any given day to be united with your child is tough, but waiting through special occasions, like the holidays and birthdays are even more difficult.

Today is Solomon's birthday. He is two years old.

Well, technically today is the day we are choosing to be Solomon's birthday, as the day he was born is unknown (as is... more

In my last post I started writing about "real orphans" and how I believe that all children who have been orphaned, whether by death or relinquishment, are deserving of being adopted.

However, there are additional issues to consider when children are being relinquished for international adoption in countries that are suffering from poverty, illness, famine, lack of resources and other challenges.

In the United States it can not even be said that no birth parents relinquish their babies because of external pressure and coercion. Unfortunately,... more

Mary over at the Ethiopia Adoption blog as a great post today about "true orphans", and about the conflict some people feel adopting children who still have living parents. I was going to leave a comment, but decided I have enough to say to warrant a post or two of my own. :)

In this post I am going to discuss who I feel qualifies as a true orphan. Is a child who has been orphaned by the death of his parents "more" of an orphan than a child who has been relinquished by parents who cannot care for him because of poverty of illness?

Honestly, I do not believe that one child in an orphanage... more