I have been sharing some tips to make life easier for you and your family when your new child comes home. Since this is a time of significant adjustment for your entire family, it is a time that calls for some "special treatment".

My tip for today is to create a schedule and stick to it as much as possible, and provide structure for your new child.

A predictable schedule and structure helps make a child feel safe and secure, and this is especially important for a child whose entire life has just been turned upside down. Newly adopted children often feel very... more

I have been writing about ways to prepare emotionally and physically for the arrival of your new child, and then sharing tips on how to make your child's adjustment into your family as smooth as possible.

My tip for this post is to lower your expectations. Cut yourself a break. Make life as easy as you can for yourself. Allow your standards for the things in life that don't... more

While bringing home a new child is usually a much-anticipated event, those early days, weeks and months together are often challenging, as the new child adjusts to life in a new family, and the family gets used to having a new member.

In my next few posts I will offer up some tips for your early days together, and share some things that you can do to promote bonding and attachment and make your adjustment period as easy as possible on parents and children.

Today's tip is to "cocoon".

When your child first comes home, you should cocoon your family as... more

Bringing home a new child, whether he is a baby, toddler, school-aged child or teenager, is a huge event in a family. For my next few posts, I will be offering up advice and sharing tips to help ease the adjustment for you, your new child and your family. These tips will be geared towards families adopting children of all ages, and for families adopting both domestically and internationally.

My tip for today is to prepare. There are things you can to do emotionally prepare for your child's arrival, and there are things that you can do to physically... more

Bringing home a new child, whether he is a baby, toddler, school-aged child or teenager, is a huge event in a family. For my next few posts, I will be offering up advice and sharing tips to help ease the adjustment for you, your new child and your family. These tips will be geared towards families adopting children of all ages, and for families adopting both domestically and internationally.

My tip for today is to prepare. There are things you can to do emotionally prepare for your child's arrival, and there are things that you can do to physically... 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