In my last post I started writing about how many transracial adoptive parents who choose to adopt internationally get questioned by others as to "why" they did not adopt from the U.S. and "take care of their own". Usually these questions about why parents would adopt a child from another country when there are children waiting in the U.S., is full of judgment and negativity.

I know many an international adoptive parent who has been asked this question by family members, friends and total strangers, so today I am going to write about how to answer it.

In my last post I wrote about some... more

I have been writing about the challenges that we have faced in navigating a relationship with the birth mother of my two oldest daughters. I have shared a lot about our personal situation, and yet I have left out a lot of details and specifics.

In this post I am going to offer some advice in handling a difficult relationship or situation with your child's birth parents, and I hope it is helpful to some.

If you are in a challenging relationship with your child's birth parent or birth parents, here is some advice.

- Get professional help. Adoption agencies that handle domestic adoptions usually have one or more employees who specialize in handling contact between adoptive... more

I have been writing about our relationship with the birth mother of two of our daughters, and the challenges we have faced in trying to do what is best for our girls.

Continued from this post:

Shortly after I responded to the request I got from "an aunt" of the girls, I got a request through the adoption agency for letters from the girls to their birth mother. At this point the staff at the agency had changed, so the lady that called me had very little knowledge of our adoption situation or what had happened in the past. I talked to her in detail about what had happened and that... more

I have been writing about our domestic adoption of two older girls and the challenges we have had in regards to the relationship we have with their birth mother. I am sharing this story because I am sure that we are not the only domestic adoptive family in a difficult situation, and I hope that maybe our story can be of encouragement, support and help to other families in challenging situations.

In my earlier posts I wrote about how we had high hopes for a positive open relationship with my girls' birth mother and then I wrote about the challenges and struggles that came when it became... more

In my last post, I started writing about the topic of when relationships between adoptive parents and birth parents are challenging.

As I said, my husband and I went into the adoption of our two older daughters with the hope that we would be able to create and maintain an ongoing open relationship with their birth mother. However, fairly shortly after placement it started to become clear that contact between the girls and their birth mother was not going to be in their best interest, because of lying, swearing, verbal abuse, manipulation and other issues. When the professionals involved... more

A lot of the things I write about on this blog are inspired from my own experiences with adopting transracially.

Lately we have been facing a difficult situation with the birth mother of two of our children, and I am sure that we are not the only family in a tough situation, so I thought I would write about it.

Many of us adoptive parents prepare for our domestic adoptions by doing lots of reading, research, etc.

If you read the blogs of birth/first mothers such as Jan, Jenna, Heather... more

In this post I asked readers to leave a comment with questions related to transracial adoption that they would like to see answered in future blog posts (please feel free to still go to that post and leave a question if you have one). I have already answered questions related to transracial adoption labels, hair... more

I am going to squeeze one more post out of the letter "W" in my Transracial Adoption ABCs.

Waiver - While this is not an adoption topic that will affect the majority of families that adopt internationally, it is an issue that is near and dear to my heart and is something that is affecting more and more adoptive parents all of the time.

The "waiver" is an extra step to the immigration process that is required for a child that is HIV+ (there is also a waiver required for children who test positive for TB). At most embassies, a medical is done as part of the immigration part of the international... 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

In case you have not heard this yet, on Sunday in Alabama, a family that checked into an RV park was told that their two year-old son was not allowed to use the pool, showers or common areas of the park because he is HIV+.

Silvia and Dick Glover are foster parents to little Caleb, and are in the process of adopting him. Silvia mentioned in casual conversation with someone in the park office that the boy is HIV+, when they were discussing his adoption. Shortly thereafter, they were told he could not swim or use the showers or common areas of the... more