If you have not been reading along on the New York Times adoption blog, Relative Choices, you are really missing out on a variety of wonderful articles.

I will continue on with more posts about my definition of adoption in my next posts, but I wanted to call attention to some of these great articles.

Today's article is titled "Blind Date in Addis",... more

For many children adopted internationally, there is very little information known about their birth family and their birth history. Often times there is also very little information on the child's relinquishment or abandonment. It is very common for dates of birth and accurate ages to be known. For many adoptees, their past is a puzzle, with many pieces missing.

While the importance of knowing about one's birth family and early life is becoming more and more acknowledged and recognized in the adoption community, only a percentage of adoptive parents and adoption agencies are putting in the extra effort to get every piece of information available for the children that are being adopted.

The... more

One great way that you can celebrate National Adoption Month is to provide some donations for orphans.

It is time again for my regular appeal for donations, supplies and travelers willing to carry donations and supplies to Ethiopia for AHOPE.

I am the donations/supplies coordinator for AHOPE For Children, an organization that provides a nurturing home in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia for orphaned HIV-positive children, provides care for HIV+ children in the community through their outreach program and helps to educate the community about AIDS prevention. The children at AHOPE are now receiving antiretroviral drugs--thanks to Jane Aronson's Worldwide Orphans Foundation--and are thriving.... more

*Make sure you read all the way to the end of this post so you can participate in the fun giveaway.

The Adoption.com Glossary defines adoption as:

The official transfer through the court system of all of the parental rights that a biological parent has to a child, along with an assumption by the adopting parent of all of the parental rights of the biological parents that are being terminated and are assumed in their entirety by the adoptive parents, including the responsibility for the care and supervision... more

Today is November 1, which means that it is now officially National Adoption Awareness Month. President George W. Bush issued the official proclamation that November 2007 is National Adoption Month, yesterday. In the proclamation President Bush calls upon "all Americans to observe this month with appropriate programs and activities to honor adoptive families and to participate in efforts to find permanent homes for waiting children." You can read the entire proclamation here.

A few weeks... more

I am a firm believer that adoptive parents have a responsibility to look at the world beyond their family, their children and their problems. I believe that parents who have built (or partially built) their families through adoption tend to be much more aware of the problems in the world. Through their own children's stories, adoptive parents are usually much more aware of things like abuse, neglect, poverty, illness, famine and other problems that lead to children being available for adoption.

I think that even little ways of giving back and showing that we care about the people of the... more

I say often on here that racism is "alive and well" in the United States of America, and in many other countries. While I do believe that things have gotten better in regards to racism and that people are slowly becoming more educated and accepting, it is still painfully obvious that there is a long way to go before we can say that people of all races are treated equally, and that no one is treated badly or judged by the color of their skin.

It is easy to fall in to a sense of false security in regards to racism. We live in a place that is fairly close-knit, and... more

Most people in the adoption community are aware that November is National Adoption month every year, with National Adoption Day occurring on November 17.

November is just 15 days away, and now is the time to start thinking about and planning for what you are doing to do during National Adoption Month to promote, support and educate others about adoption.

I think for a lot of people it can be hard to know just exactly what to do for National Adoption Month. Lots of people write about it on their blogs, or mention it at their jobs or to their families. But there is much more that we can do.

Adoption.com is helping families get involved in National Adoption Month this... more

For parents adopting African or African-American children, unless you are adopting a baby who is completely bald, hair care is going to be an issue you have to deal with right away.

Finding the right hair products for your child often involves a lot of trial and error. You can read about some of our trials and errors with products in my hair adventures posts (part one here, part two here and part three here).... more

If you are a parent who has adopted a child transracially, or if you are a person who was adopted transracially, here is an opportunity to participate in a study on transracial adoption. (Please note that this study seems to be interested in white parents who have adopted black children, and black children adopted by white parents). Also note that the study is only allowing adoptees that are 18 years or older to participate.

Cardell Jacobson, who teaches at Brigham Young University and does research on race and ethnic relations, social psychology, and social problems, and Darron Smith, a PhD student at the University of Utah in the... more