Answers to your parenting questions.
Ask AF: News of a Birth Parent’s Death
Answers to your parenting questions.
Explaining Troubling Birth Parent News
Tough topics can range from discontinued contact to a slip back into drug habits to unexpected medical problems.
Parent-to-Parent: Contact with Birth Siblings
We asked readers, Does your child have biological siblings? Do they live with their birth parents or with another adoptive family? How do you stay in touch? Here’s what you said.
Video: Open Adoptee Experiences
In this open adoption video, teen and young adult adoptees who grew up knowing their birth parents share their thoughts and experiences.
Ask AF: Acting Out After Birth Mother Visits
Answers to your parenting questions.
Ask AF: When Contact Seems Risky
Answers to your parenting questions.
Ask AF: Writing to an Unknown Birth Mother
Answers to your parenting questions.
Summer Reading 2015
Everyone touched by adoption should check out these powerful memoirs, by a birth mother and an adoptee.
Keeping an Adoption Open Despite Challenges
Five moms candidly reveal how they’re honoring their commitment to openness when their child’s birth parent struggles with substance abuse, mental illness, or is experiencing crisis.
“Our Relationship with Our Child’s Birth Mother”
Getting to know our daughter’s birth mother was a tremendous blessing.
“Open Minds, Open Hearts”
Five years ago, my husband Pat and I knew nothing about open adoption. Today, we are staunch advocates of it and the very proud parents of two beautiful children who came home to us through open adoption. The journey to our children and to lovingly accept open adoption, however, was not an easy one. We learned that having an open mind was the key to having an open heart.
Ask AF: Should We Try for the Same Level of Openness?
Answers to your parenting questions.
Ask AF: How Do I Set Boundaries With My Child’s Birth Family?
Answers to your parenting questions.
Ask AF: When a Teen Wants to Know Both Birth Parents
Q: My 14-year-old knows her birth mother, but her birth father never wanted to be a part of her life, and is currently incarcerated. She wrote him a letter several months ago and didn’t get a response, and has been struggling with this. Her older brother has good relationships with both of his birth parents, which I believe makes it harder for her.
“A Love We Never Expected”
When we first considered adoption, my husband and I discussed how much contact we were willing to have with the birth mother. We didn’t realize how close we’d become to the whole birth family.
“The Whole Journey”
When our son’s birth mother was making that painful decision — raise a child or finish high school — we were the family she chose. So when she invited us to her graduation, nothing could stop us.
Open Adoption: A Reference Guide for Families
Openness brings great benefits to all involved, as well as some unique dilemmas. Addressing them requires flexibility, sensitivity to the birth family, and confidence in yourself as parents. Here’s how to make it work for your family.
New Questions About Open Adoption
As our child gets older, he keeps coming up with more and more questions about his adoption!
View the Open Adoption Webinar Replay
View the replay of a webinar with Lori Holden to learn about open adoption and hear answers to commonly asked questions from adoptive parents.