My younger son’s arrival signaled the end to a decade of heartache due to secondary infertility. So why was I so sad?
“Losing Touch with Birth Parents”
When my son was six years old, his birth mother closed the door on our open adoption. Were we wrong to include her in his life?
Ask AF: Handling Requests for Financial Support
How should we handle requests for financial support from our son’s birth mother?
“A Complicated Privilege”
Was hiring someone to search for our daughter’s Guatemalan birth mother the right thing to do? We decided we had no choice but to try to meet her.
Five Families’ Creative Connections to Birth Parents
When it comes to keeping their children’s birth parents an active presence in their lives, many families are thinking outside the (mailbox and in)box.
“Knowing Their Brother’s Birth Mother”
We knew that our youngest son’s birth mother would be a powerful force in his life. We didn’t anticipate the impact she’d have on his older brothers.
“Our Kids Are All Right”: Birth Siblings in Open Adoption
Was moving from a semi-open adoption to a fully open one, with visits, the right decision for my birth son and for the daughter I was raising?
“Adopting Our Son’s Birth Sister”
When we adopted our son’s biological sister, it felt both eerily similar and completely different.
“Meeting the Parents Who Would Adopt My Grandchild”
My daughter “gave up” nothing when she became a birth mother. She lovingly placed her precious baby girl in the arms of parents who would prove eager to embrace us all.
Ask AF: Explaining a Birth Sibling’s Adoption
Answering your parenting questions.
“Open Adoption Is…”
For our family, open adoption is peach roses, scrambling to buy bottles, and feeling out our relationship with the birth mom.
“20 Years of Letters to Our Son’s Birth Mom”
Though we never heard back from our son’s birth mother, I continued to write, bragging with a motherly pride I thought only she could understand.
“Knowing Our Son’s Birth Father”
It has been hard to watch Kenneth struggle as a birth dad in an open adoption. I wish my husband and I could make it easier for him, and for our son.
“Introducing Tessa to Her Birth Father”
After seven years, we decided to bring our daughter’s birth father back into her life. But was she ready for him?
“Why Don’t We Ever Visit My Birth Parents?”
After three domestic adoptions, we have three very different levels of openness with each of our children’s birth families.
Birth Parent Relationship Changes in the Teen Years
“We have a semi-open relationship with our 14-year-old son’s birth mother. Recently, he asked if we could invite her for a weekend. I trust his birth mom, but I’m worried.”
“When the Babysitter is…the Birth Mom!”
Though I’m indisputably my daughter’s mom, the time she spends with her birth mother seems to offer something I can’t.
“Mourning His Birth Mother with the Birth Family”
The tragic loss of our son’s birth mother was followed by a powerful new connection with his birth family.
Feeling Guilt Over the Birth Mom’s Grief
“Many parents feel guilty because their joy is the direct result of a difficult decision by the birth mother — someone you may have grown to care about. So when a new adoptive mother sees the birth mother in intense pain, she asks herself, ‘Was adoption really the right thing to do?'”
Helping Family Understand Open Adoption
Your family — especially older relatives — may not get why you are choosing an open adoption. Adoption expert Kathleen Silber gives advice on what to say.