Digital Magazine Issues

 Read Adoptive Families issues in magazine format on your desktop, tablet, or mobile device, or read them article-by-article online.


Winter 2020 issue

Winter 2020: Adoption in Words and Pictures

In this issue:

  • Adoptive Families’ 2019 Cover Photo Contest Winners
  • New adoption memoirs, novels, young adult fiction, and more to add to your reading list
  • “From Waiting Mom to Flexible Working Mom”
  • “Parenting from Afar” – A mother on watching her child grow and make the leap into adulthood

Browse the articles >


May 2019 issue

Summer 2019: Special Needs Parenting

In this issue:

  • “I Needed a Different Parenting Handbook…” – Parenting Children with FASD
  • “Finding My Inner Mom”
  • A father through transracial adoption thought he’d heard it all — until this interaction
  • Parents Share the Moment They Knew They’d Adopt

Browse the articles >


April 2019 issue

April 2019: Talking About Adoption

In this issue:

  • 8 Keys to Talking About Adoption
  • “Reconnecting with My Children’s Birth Mother After She Battled Addiction”
  • An adoptee on wondering, ‘What would my life have been like if I had not been adopted?’
  • Parents on the “Match Meeting” with an Expectant Mother

Browse the articles >


Feb/Mar 2019 issue

Feb/Mar 2019: New Adoption Music

In this issue:

  • New Music for Foster and Adoptive Families
  • “As parents, we are supposed to raise our children to self-sufficient adulthood… so why does it hurt like a %$#* when we do our job?”
  • Life as a Conspicuous Adoptive Family
  • How Is Parenting After Adoption Different? Parents Share…

Browse the articles >


January 2019 issue

January 2019: New Adoption Books

In this issue:

  • 21 Noteworthy Adoption Books Published in 2018
  • “The Advice I Wish I’d Been Given While Waiting to Adopt”
  • Navigating a Last-Minute “Stork Drop” Adoption
  • “My son and I were bonding again… it was as if seeds that were sowed and nurtured over the years began to bloom.”

Browse the articles >


November/December 2018 issue

Nov/Dec 2018: Foster Adoption & Photo Contest Winners

In this issue:

  • Adoptive Families’ 2018 Cover Photo Contest Winners
  • Never Too Old for Family: Adopting Teens from Foster Care
  • “When people find out we’re a foster family, they ask, ‘Are you afraid of what they’ll teach your children?’ Well, here’s what my kids have learned….”
  • “After just eight years as father and child, would our bond hold as my son went off to college?”

Browse the articles >


October 2018 issue

October 2018: Birth Parent Voices & Parenting Teens

In this issue:

  • Those Three Words – a birth mother on the complicated emotions that accompanied her second pregnancy, 11 years after placing her daughter for adoption
  • “Off to college, already…?”
  • “Ensuring That My Black Teenager Gets Home Safe Every Night”
  • Newborn, toddler, or teen? Parents share how they decided on age when adopting

Browse the articles >


September 2018 issue

September 2018: Back-to-School

In this issue:

  • Roundup: The Best of Adoption at School
  • “Adoption kismet paired my introverted self with an upbeat, sociable son”
  • “From Then to Now” – The father of a teen shares memories from his parenting journey
  • Parents Share: “What My Child’s Friends Want to Know About Adoption”

Browse the articles >


August 2018 issue

August 2018: Grandfamilies

In this issue:

  • When Grandparents Adopt: How to Explain Your New Role to Your (Grand)Child
  • “Back to Bucaramanga” – Meeting My Daughter’s Birth Mother in Colombia
  • “I see a child who was confused, but yearning for what we all want and need” – Read the cover family’s foster adoption story
  • Parents Share: “Our Open Adoption Over the Years”

Browse the articles >


July 2018 issue

July 2018: Summer Reading

In this issue:

  • Summer Reading Excerpt from That Kind of Mother: “All little black boys need to hear this at some point…”
  • “Motherhood, Cleaved.” – The Dichotomy of Adoptive Motherhood
  • Did This Boy’s Friend Mean to Tease About Adoption?
  • “My Best Bonding Advice for New Parents”

Browse the articles >


June 2018 issue

June 2018: Adoption and Language

In this issue:

  • Positive Parenting: How to Say “Yes” When Raising an Oppositional Teen
  • “First Words” After Adopting Older Children from Foster Care
  • Here’s how one mom responded when someone referred to her child’s birth parents as ‘trashy’
  • My “Adoption Hero”

Browse the articles >


May 2018 issue

May 2018: Openness in Foster Adoption & Talking About Racism

In this issue:

  • Lessons I’ve Learned from My Children
  • On meeting my children’s birth mother after adopting from foster care
  • “The Talk”: Revealing the Burden of Racism to My African-American Child
  • Celebrating with an Adoption Shower

Browse the articles >


April 2018 issue

April 2018: Adoption and Preteens

In this issue:

  • Talking with Your Preteen About Adoption
  • From Stoic Toddler to Cuddly 10-Year-Old – One Father’s Story
  • “Now you’ll get pregnant!” and other adoption misconceptions shared by readers
  • “My biological brother was eager to claim us as family, but I was intensely uncomfortable in the role of sudden sister….”

Browse the articles >


March 2018 issue

March 2018: Older Child Adoption

In this issue:

  • Using Photos to Tell a Newly Adopted Older Child “You Belong”
  • Filling in Some of the “Missing Pieces” After Foster Adoption
  • “Pondering Race, Culture, and Identity…at Starbucks”
  • Because Baby Showers Are Bad Enough Without Nosy Questions…

Browse the articles >


February 2018 issue

February 2018: Adoption Cost & Timing

In this issue:

  • Adoption Cost & Timing in 2016-2017: Latest Survey Data
  • “Adoption was a dream come true…but it didn’t erase my painful feelings about infertility”
  • How to Get Through a Failed Expectant Mother Match?
  • The Paternity Test, Part 2: “The Results Are In…”

Browse the articles >


January 2018 issue

January 2018: New Adoption Books

In this issue:

  • 32 Noteworthy New Adoption Books Published in 2017
  • Connecting with the Global Chinese Adoptee Community
  • How Do You Respond When People Ask How Long Adoption Took?
  • “Could this man be our child’s unnamed birth father? After meeting him, we hoped so…”

Browse the articles >


December 2017 issue

December 2017: Confronting Discrimination

In this issue:

  • “You’re Not My Real Mom:” Parents Share Their Responses
  • Confronting Discrimination: Empowering Children to Face Racism
  • Gifts of Love: Meaningful Holiday Exchanges
  • Uncharted Territory: Embracing Adoption

Browse the articles >


November 2017 issue

November 2017: Foster Adoption

In this issue:

  • Adoptive Families’ 2017 Cover Photo Contest Winners
  • A Helping Hand Through the Foster Adoption Process
  • How Parenting Older Children Adopted from Foster Care Is Like Playing Jenga … Backward
  • Our 2017 Picks for Gifts That Give Back

Browse the articles >


October 2017 issue

October 2017: Open Adoption

In this issue:

  • Parent-to-Parent Advice on Open Adoption
  • “Waiting on a Dream” – an Uncertain Wait After an Expectant Mother Match
  • A dad on caring for his black children’s hair
  • Explaining Foster Reunification to Young Children

Browse the articles >


September 2017 issue

September 2017: Adoption at School

In this issue:

  • Promoting Adoption Awareness in the Classroom
  • “Caught on Camera” – Our Surprise Adoption Match
  • Can Black Children Wear Clothing with Watermelons?
  • Parents Share: Talking with the Teacher About Adoption

Browse the articles >


August 2017 issue

August 2017: New Perspectives in Adoption

In this issue:

  • Maintaining your emotional connection with your teen
  • “5 things I wish my white parents knew”
  • On titles and bonding after older-child adoption
  • Understanding adoption in all its joyous, bittersweet complexity

Browse the articles >


July 2017 issue

JULY 2017: The Infertility Issue

In this issue:

  • Excerpt from The Art of Waiting: When “Baby Fever” hits
  • One mom shares why she opted out of IVF
  • On explaining to our children why our families draw stares and questions
  • “Aren’t adoptive moms allowed to have a bad day?”

Browse the articles >


June 2017 issue

JUNE 2017: Adoption Movie Nights & Honoring Dads

In this issue:

  • Movies with adoption themes + questions to spark discussion
  • A father on empowering a newly adopted teen
  • AF Picks: Diverse dolls and toys
  • “Do we talk about adoption enough? Too much?”

Browse the articles >


May 2017 issue

MAY 2017: Adoption & Teens

In this issue:

  • Parenting adopted teens and setting limits
  • “On letting go…and meeting my daughters” – a linked birth mother and adoptive mother share their stories
  • Parents debate post-adoption contact agreements
  • “Dear Other Mothers…thank you”

Browse the articles >


March 2017 issue

MARCH 2017: Adoption Decisions, Waiting, and Bonding

In this issue:

  • Making the decision to grow your family through adoption
  • Keeping your spirits up during the wait
  • Letting go of preconceived notions about bonding
  • “What if…” – a mother responds to a pre-adoptive parent’s most secret worry

Browse the articles >


February 2017 issue

FEBRUARY 2017: Adoption Cost, Timing, and Statistics

In this issue:

  • Adoption Cost and Timing in 2015-2016
  • Finding the right school fit for transracially adopted children/li>
  • Television shows that (mostly) “get” adoption
  • “Our first anniversary as family was bittersweet for my daughter; this year, she wants to celebrate”

Browse the articles >


JANUARY 2017: Sibling Connections

In this issue:

  • How to talk about and maintain contact with birth siblings
  • A teen on becoming a big sister to six children through foster adoption
  • Noteworthy new adoption books
  • “My winding path to family after tragedy”

Browse the articles >


DECEMBER 2016: Holidays & Family Celebrations

In this issue:

  • Encouraging a hyphenated identity
  • Adoption charities for year-end giving
  • “The best gift we received after becoming a parent through adoption”
  • Embracing family relationships that don’t come with exact names

Browse the articles >


NOVEMBER 2016: Foster & Older Child Adoption

In this issue:

  • 2016 Cover Photo Contest Winners
  • Foster parenting: “If you’ve made a difference in one child’s life, it’s worth it”
  • Maintaining openness after adopting older children from foster care
  • Gifts that give back to adoption and children’s causes

Browse the articles >


OCTOBER 2016: Openness in Adoption

In this issue:

  • Parenting with an open heart (when you have full contact, or none at all)
  • A birth mom on attending her son’s birthday party
  • What words does a waiting family want to hear?
  • “Stop implying that adoption—and my kids—are second best”

Browse the articles >


SEPTEMBER 2016: Adoption at School

In this issue:

  • Rethinking the family tree and other assignments
  • Telling the teacher your child was adopted (or not)
  • “Bonding with my teen…in the baby department”
  • 25 children’s books that showcase diversity

Browse the articles >


AUGUST 2016: Adoptee Voices

In this issue:

  • Talking with Black children about racism and the police
  • Excerpt from The Hundred-Year Flood, by Matthew Salesses
  • Displaying photos of the birth family at home
  • On searching for, but not finding, birth parents

Browse the articles >


SPRING 2016: Adoption Cost & Timing Update

In this issue:

  • Adoption cost & timing – the latest data
  • The adoption process through expectant mothers’ eyes
  • Looking back on China’s one-child policy
  • Attaching through love, hugs, and play

Browse the articles >


WINTER 2016: Adoption Voices

In this issue:

  • Adoptees on the benefits of open adoption & birth country visits
  • How to request the support you need from family & friends
  • “To the white parents of my black son’s friends”
  • How one family tuned their parenting to their son’s special needs

Browse the articles >


FALL 2015: Focus on U.S. Foster Adoption

In this issue:

  • How to adopt from U.S. foster care
  • Search and reunion with birth parents in China
  • 2015 Cover Photo Contest Winners
  • Getting ‘The Call’ when you least expect it

Browse the articles >


SUMMER 2015: Summer Reading

In this issue:

  • Excerpts from must-read memoirs by an adoptee (God and Jetfire) and a birth mother (Postcards from Cookie)
  • Open adoption with a troubled birth parent
  • Talking about adoption at bedtime
  • An adoptee on loving two sets of “real” parents

Browse the articles >


SPRING 2015: Open Adoption & Transracial Adoption

In this issue:

  • An open adoption reference guide for families
  • Raising a child of color in America—while white
  • Data from the 2013-2014 Adoption Cost & Timing Survey
  • Making sense of feelings about infertility & adoption through writing

Browse the articles >


WINTER 2015: Adoptee Voices

In this issue:

  • Three adoptees on race, identity, and birth parent search
  • Best movies of 2014: reviews + discussion guides
  • Incorporating adoption into your family’s summer plans
  • Healing your child’s food insecurities

Browse the articles >


FALL 2014: Birth Family Connections

In this issue:

  • Five birth mothers in open adoptions share their experiences
  • Two amazing stories of identical twins, reunited after adoption
  • How to parent through the “testing” phase of older-child adoption
  • Meet the dazzling winners of our 2014 Cover Photo Contest

Browse the articles >


SPRING 2014: Teens and Adoption

In this issue:

  • Special Report: parenting your adopted teen
  • Helping children adjust to a new older sibling
  • Creative ways to stay in touch with birth parents
  • Q&A with Angela Tucker, of Closure, on meeting her birth parents and feedback about the documentary that followed her search

Browse the articles >


WINTER 2014: Adjusting to Parenthood

In this issue:

  • Surprising emotions that can accompany new-parenthood joy
  • How to start talking about race and racism with your child
  • Two mothers and a birth mother in open adoptions discuss the match, contact agreements, birth siblings, and more
  • Breastfeeding without birthing

Read the articles online >


FALL 2013: Supporting Birth Parents

In this issue:

  • A national study sheds light on birth mothers’ experiences after placement
  • Dispelling myths about foster adoption
  • Picks for a family movie night that will start a discussion about adoption
  • Meet the winners of our 2013 Cover Photo Contest

Read the articles online >


SUMMER 2013: Celebrate Adoption!

In this issue:

A special collection of real families’ photos and stories on:

  • Our path to adoption
  • Getting the call & the first meeting
  • Building new family bonds & honoring birth parents
  • Family traditions & special memories

Read the articles online >


MAR/APR 2013: Becoming an “Instant Mom”

In this issue:

  • Nia Vardalos on adopting a preschooler from foster care
  • Honoring your child’s birth culture
  • An introduction to digital scrapbooking
  • Claiming your role as parent after older-child adoption

Read the articles online >


JAN/FEB 2013: Health & Happiness

In this issue:

  • Caring for a transracially adopted child’s skin
  • A healthy feeding routine that will establish trust & attachment
  • 20 questions kids ask about adoption
  • Personal stories from an adoptee and a birth grandmother

Read the articles online >


NOV/DEC 2012: Post-Infertility Decisions

In this issue:

  • Four women on walking away from infertility treatments and TTC, as well as choosing donor egg or surrogacy
  • The first year after older-child adoption
  • Piecing together your child’s medical history
  • Meet the winners of our 2012 Cover Photo Contest

Read the articles online >


SEP/OCT 2012: Adoption at School

In this issue:

  • Special Section: Adoption in the Classroom
  • Adopting a premature infant
  • When your child’s birth mother is preparing to parent a birth sibling
  • African-American hair – standing up for natural styles

Read the articles online >


MAY/JUN 2012: Sleep Struggles—Solved

In this issue:

  • How to get past bedtime struggles
  • Tailoring adoption talks to your child’s development
  • Bringing birth heritage into your everyday lives
  • Responding to bullying at school

Read the articles online >


MAR/APR 2012: Making Sense of Their Past

In this issue:

  • Seven ways to talk with your older child about her life before adoption
  • Teens speak out on adoption & identity
  • Older parent adoption: unique joys & challenges
  • Travel medicine advice for your adoption trip

Read the articles online >


JAN/FEB 2012: Talking About Adoption

In this issue:

  • 10 rules for talking about adoption
  • Open adoption over the years
  • Parenting deliberately in transracial adoption
  • Developmental delays & early intervention services

Read the articles online >


NOV/DEC 2011: The Transracial Adoptee Experience

In this issue:

  • Inside/Outside: The transracial adoptee experience
  • Scrapbooking made simple
  • Moving on after a failed expectant mother match
  • Meet the winners of our 2011 Cover Photo Contest

Read the articles online >


SEP/OCT 2011: Schools & Diversity

In this issue:

  • Weighing diversity & academics when choosing a school
  • Adopting a toddler or older child
  • Secrets of successful adoption travel
  • Is adoption “sad”?

Read the articles online >


JUL/AUG 2011: Start Talking About Adoption

In this issue:

  • Adoption conversations with very young children
  • Surviving a failed match, country change, and other bumps on the road to adoption
  • How-to: planning for the call & finalization
  • 2011 Summer Reading Special

Read the articles online >


MAY/JUN 2011: Getting Family on Board

In this issue:

  • Helping your family understand adoption
  • Recognizing and handling post-adoption depression
  • A birth mother and an adoptive mother on their open adoptions
  • Eight conversations to have with your teen

Read the articles online >


MAR/APR 2011: Combating Stereotypes & Racism

In this issue:

  • Three transracial families on stereotypes and racism
  • Explaining reproduction and birth to your child
  • The complicated feelings about infertility, even after adopting
  • Investigating adoption leave & preparing for parenthood

Read the articles online >


JAN/FEB 2011: Adoption and Social Media

In this issue:

  • Should you ‘friend’ your child’s birth mother?
  • Letting the adoption conversation evolve
  • Bonding through baby care
  • ”We pulled back in our open adoption?

Read the articles online >


NOV/DEC 2010: Foster Adoption FAQs

In this issue:

  • Answers to the most common questions about foster adoption
  • How to encourage strong friendships for your child
  • ”What our newly adopted teen taught me about parenthood”
  • Meet the winners of our 2010 Cover Photo Contest

Read the articles online >


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