Birth Parent Connection

It was important to us to have medical histories for our children, as well as relationships with their birth parents, so we decided on a fully open domestic adoption. We’re the proud parents of two beautiful children, and feel particularly fortunate to have good relationships with both of their birth mothers and birth fathers. —Bonnie Barocas

“Lost” and Found

In college, I took an Asian History course and wrote a paper about China’s One Child Policy and its implications. As a newspaper reporter, I covered the SARS epidemic, interviewing hopeful adoptive moms, some with broken hearts because their agency had cancelled trips to China, and others unfazed by their upcoming trips to the beleaguered country. My husband and I watched The Lost Girls, and the rest is history. Now, I think we would be more likely to adopt a second child from China than to attempt to have a biological child. All I have to do is visualize the thousands of Chinese girls waiting for a better life, and I know we are making the right choice. —Stephanie Doyle

Open Minds and Hearts

As my husband and I considered adoption, several things became important to us. We wanted all the experiences that new parents have, like naming our child, counting tiny fingers and toes, night feedings, and those call-the-HazMat-team diapers.

We chose an open domestic adoption and have loved getting to know our daughter’s birth mother and sharing stories and photographs with her. We wanted to be in the position to tell our daughter how her birth mother loved her, how long we searched for her, and to answer as many of her questions as we can. —Lynn Melton-Vennefron

Written in the Stars

After several years of trying unsuccessfully to conceive, my husband and I decided that adoption was the right choice for us. As a young girl, I’d had a Russian pen pal. This seemed like a sign, and it eventually led us to Novokuznetsk, Russia, to our beautiful little boy. —Lori Wiley