Most people involved in adoption have heard about the story of the Danish diplomat and his wife that recently relinquished their eight-year old daughter, who had been adopted by the couple at the age of four months.

A new article about this heart breaking story was published yesterday on Yahoo News titled "Can Adoption Children Be Returned?", and after hearing about this story the obvious and painful answer is, "Yes, adopted children can be returned."

There is a lot of speculation about this story, and like most stories in the news, we will likely never really know what happened. The family... more

In my last post I gave some advice about preparing for your adoption related travel.

One of my pieces of advice in that post was to get a good travel agent who has experience with adoption travel.

I have a lot of people that email me and ask if a travel agent is really necessary for your adoption travel. In this day and age, the internet gives anyone who has access to a computer the ability to be their own travel agent in a lot of ways. While it is true... more

Since I have travel on the brain right now, I thought it would be fun to share some of my travel tips and lessons learned from our many adoption trips.

These days, with the high number of international transracial adoptions and the high number of parents adopting domestically who have to travel to another state for their adoption, the majority of transracial adoptions involve some amount of travel.

Travel can be stressful, and adoption related travel can be ultra stressful. One of the things that you can do to relieve some of the stress is to do... more

In all things adoption, this is a very stressful week.

First off, our court date is on this Friday, December 21. That means if all goes well, Solomon Tsega will officially be our son! It also means that if all does not go well, all of the excitement and anxiety that have been building up towards this day for almost a month now will crash and burn, and we will likely have to suffer through another two to four weeks of agonizing waiting before we make any progress.

Our agency has assured us that they have gone through our paperwork and Solomon's paperwork and that as far as they can tell everything is in order and is correct, although you just never know what the courts may... more

It seems that one of the questions I hear the very most from people contemplating adoption is, "What does it cost?" Upon hearing what an average adoption costs, many are immediately either highly discouraged, highly disgusted or both.

Coming up with the money to pay for an adoption is an adventure for many adoptive parents. I would say that the majority of adoptive parents do not have a neat pile of cash in their savings account that will cover the entire adoption cost before they start off.

For us, paying for adoptions has always involved a combination... more

While many of the lessons that Josh and I have learned through our transracial adoptions have been lessons in parenting and in life, some have been more personal. For me, one of the biggest lessons I have learned (and am still learning) is that I have very little control over the process (and that I do not enjoy not having any control over such an important thing).

Adoptive parents do have control over certain aspects of the process. The agency and program that you choose, how quickly you get your paperwork done, how timely you pay your adoption expenses, what... more

I have been writing about lessons that Josh and I have learned about parenting newly adopted children throughout our adoptions. We have brought home seven kids through transracial adoption and are working on number eight, and have certainly learned a thing or two. :)

One of the most important things that we have learned is the need to be flexible when your new child comes home.

It is great (and very important) to read the books and the articles and to be prepared for what needs, issues, emotions and behaviors your child may have when he is placed with... more

Another lesson that Josh and I have learned through our adoptions is how important food can be to a child.

We often talk about "comfort food", and how eating something that we enjoy and that is familiar can make us feel good inside. To a child whose entire life has been turned upside down, having some familiar food can be extremely comforting.

Josh and I have seen this in all of our transracial adoptions (not counting the two infant adoptions). Even our two daughters who were adopted domestically struggled with the huge change in diet they experienced... more

Another important lesson that Josh and I have learned through our adoptions is that communication is super important. If your transracial adoption is an international adoption (as many are) and English is not your child's primary language, I strongly suggest that you spend some time learning some phrases and words in your child's first language.

Now, I am certainly not saying that you need to go out and buy a course in learning how to speak another language and become completely fluent. Honestly, the most effective and useful words for you to learn are... more

Yesterday, December 12, the United States of America signed on to and become a full member of the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption. The Hague will be put into affect as of April 1, 2008, and the U.S. will have to follow the Hague's guidelines and procedures with adoptions between the U.S. and other countries that are Hague members.

Those who are against the Hague worry that it will cause significant delays to international adoptions, which already often take a significant period of time. Some worry... more