Can a Band-Aid do more than heal a physical wound? For my daughter, adopted from Ethiopia at age 9, a mother’s therapeutic touch — to real and emotional boo-boos — began a deeper healing process.
“Baby Benjamin’s Adoption Day”
Today the judge made it official. But this child has been one of us since the day he was born.
Interview with Melissa Fay Greene
The adoptive mom and critically acclaimed author talks about her adoption of two brothers from Ethiopia, the AIDS crisis in Africa, and Haregewoin Teferra, the foster mother at the center of her book, There Is No Me Without You: One Woman’s Odyssey to Rescue Her Country’s Children.
“Motherhood, Cleaved.”
My love for my youngest child, who was born to me, takes a different timbre from my love for my twins through adoption. Accepting this helps me understand the inimitable bond they share with their birth mother, and the ache she must feel.
Parents Share: “My Best Bonding Advice”
Adoptive moms and dads share their best advice for bonding with a newly adopted child, from taking time off to never leaving a child to cry it out at night.
“First Words”
We may not have heard our children’s very first words, but we’ve heard many others in our journey through infertility and foster adoption—and now, as family.
Lessons I’ve Learned from My Children
Over decades as a foster and adoptive parent and an adoption social worker, I have mothered and supported hundreds of children. Each one has taught me more than I passed along to them. Here is just some of that wisdom.
Parents Share: Celebrating with an Adoption Shower
Adoptive parents who welcomed their child home with an adoption shower share when they celebrated and their favorite part of the joyous occasion.
Creating a Photographic History for an Older Child
Pictures help show our children that their lives matter, and that they are part of a family. A photographer and adoptive mom offers her advice for taking and preserving meaningful moments.
“One of the Missing Pieces”
When older children argue and act out, it’s often connected to events from their past. How could any child move through 14 foster placements unscathed? But last night, another clash, followed by a heart-to-heart, brought us one piece closer to feeling like a solid family.
“Black, White, and the Cornrow in Between”
While it might have been “just hair” to me, the emotions were far more tangled for them, with roots deep into the history of oppression between our two peoples.
Yes, You Can Breastfeed
Now you need to decide if it’s right for you and your family.
Adoption Day Gifts From Russia, with Love
The mementos we gathered during our long adoption stay have meant a great deal to our daughter as she grows up.
Adoption Shower for Toddlers or Older Children
Planning an adoption shower for an internationally or domestically adopted toddler or older child? Here’s what to ask for.
Ask AF: Your Older Child’s First Day Home with You
A parent-to-be who’s adopting a four-year-old from foster care solicits advice about what to do that first day home and how to make it easier on the child.
“A Different Kind of Sister”
My partner and I thought long and hard about whether we wanted to adopt a second child. We decided to adopt a puppy-sister for our daughter instead.
“Santa’s Dilemma”
This year, we’ve vowed to cut back at Christmas. Well, perhaps it wasn’t a vow, but at least a serious intent to try. Then again, they are children for such a short time.
“What ‘Gotcha’ Means to My Family”
While I acknowledge that the word carries only a hint of the day’s complicated meaning, to me, “Gotcha” says it all.
“The Adoption Advantage”
Coming to parenthood on equal terms lets my husband and me appreciate the experience all the more.
“Parenting After Foster Adoption—Like Playing Jenga, Backward”
As a father who raised a child from birth and is now parenting older children adopted from foster care, I’ve come to see that the game and pieces may, indeed, be the same, but you have to play in an entirely different way.