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Perspective adoptive parents should educate themselves on different health issues and conditions common in adopted children and get a good idea of what they feel they can or cannot handle, what risks they can and cannot take and then be open and honest with their social workers and adoption agency. On one hand no parent should ever feel pressure to adopt a child that they do not feel 100% comfortable in accepting and yet on the other hand, no child... more

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I would highly recommend all perspective adoptive families to have a conversation about what special needs they may or may not be willing to handle very early on in their adoption. While there are some parents who decide that they are only open to a “healthy” child, or one without any known health conditions or needs, there are also parents that purposefully choose to adopt children with known health conditions.

“Special needs” can be anything from... more

Today I am going to continue to address issues that are commonly barriers for people considering adoption, and are also often concerns for families that do move forward with their adoption plans.

I have already written about financial barriers as well as the worry of being able to love an adopted child the same way a parent loves a child born to them. Now I am going to tackle the health issue, as that is one that seems to pop up very early on in the “considering adoption process” and is a question that I get a lot.

I know that very early on in our first adoption... more

ME NEITHER.

As you have probably heard around the web lately, United States Citizen and Immigration Services is trying to raise the already way-too-high in-my-not-so-humble-opinion-fees that they charge adoptive parents. There is a comment period that is ending in the next few days (April 2), so please, if you haven't already, let them know that this STINKS.

Here is the press release, dated Jan. 31, 2007.

January 31, 2007

Press Release

BUILDING AN IMMIGRATION SERVICE FOR THE 21ST CENTURY

USCIS Proposes New Fees for Immigration and Naturalization Benefit Applications

WASHINGTON—U.S. Citizenship... more

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So Josh decided to go and say something. He said hi, introduced himself and apologized for staring, and told them that their family was beautiful. Then he explained that he was usually the one being stared AT, not the one doing the staring, and he told them about our family.

Turns out they had a great conversation…This family has nine kids, including several from Haiti and one from a domestic adoption, along with their biological kids. They were thrilled to hear about our family, and they talked with Josh about raising transracial families in small country areas, different... more

As the mom of a large transracial family, I often write about our experiences being “out and about” and how conspicuous we are and the attention (both positive and negative) that we receive. We get nice comments, we get rude comments and we get down right silly ones…

Case in point…yesterday, I took all of the kids to dinner by myself. As I carried my two trays of happy meals back to the play room, a mom looked at me and said, “Birthday party?” I said, “Nope…just my family.”(and smiled at her politely.) She got this bewildered look and said, “oh…that’s nice… I guess.” And she didn’t smile…it was more like a sneer.

Whatever. (Later on she did comment nicely that my 10 kids were... more

Ok, let me preface this by saying that I have a pretty liberal sense of humor... I was raised in New York by a single dad who works in politics...

Although I am a religious gal and have become a lot more aware and sensitive to different issues as an adult, I would still say that I don't take offense easily.

Today, I am offended.

Check out this clip from Comedy Central. (But only if you haven't eaten... more

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I have to say that we are up against a lot…scrolling through the “answers” on Yahoo to this question was really disheartening and at times, nauseating. So many people don’t care, don’t want to care and don’t think anyone else should care.

More than once I saw the response that we should just let the children suffer and die…

I saw answers that said that we should let the kids in Africa die, because they are just going to grow up to be sick and spread HIV around and have more kids to suffer.

I saw answers that said we shouldn’t help anyone until evil rulers were eradicated and healthy drinking water was available to everyone, because... more

Ok, here is my answer to the question, “How can we make the world’s children a priority in 2007?” that I discussed in this post (and thanks to those of you who took the time to give me your answer.)

How do we make the world's children a priority?

I say we have to be their voice.

To make children a priority…ALL children, everywhere…they need a voice. People need to know what the children's needs are, how they are suffering, where the “systems” are failing them, which of their basic needs aren’t being met, and how they can be helped.

So often people live in their... more

Actress Alyssa Milano poses the question to the general public, “What can we do to make the world’s children a priority in 2007?”

Alyssa Milano is a UNICEF ambassador, and is one of nine celebrities and UNICEF ambassadors that have asked questions on “Yahoo!Answers” regarding the world’s children.

Here is Alyssa’s full question,

“What can we do to make the world’s children a priority in ‘07? Worldwide, 10.5 million children under 5 will die this year, most of them from easily preventable causes. What can we do to make these children a priority in 2007?"

You can find the Yahoo page with Alyssa'a question, video of her doing work with UNICEF... more