Blended families flourish when they recognize their differences and celebrate their choices, says this father of two.
Share Your Story: First Mother’s or Father’s Day
We asked our reader panel: How did you celebrate your first Mother’s Day or Father’s Day? What’s since become an annual tradition?
“An Imperfect Family” – Remembering My Brother Through Foster Adoption
My family couldn’t give Darrell the storybook life we’d all have liked. But with us, he learned to embrace the joy in life.
Celebrating Russian Christmas
How do we celebrate the holidays? In all sorts of creative ways. Here, gifts of love exchanged by families in open adoptions, along with an assortment of customs, crafts, and recipes just right for our multicultural families.
Celebrating Kwanzaa
How do we celebrate the holidays? In all sorts of creative ways. Here, gifts of love exchanged by families in open adoptions, along with an assortment of customs, crafts, and recipes just right for our multicultural families.
Celebrating La Navidad
How do we celebrate the holidays? In all sorts of creative ways. Here, gifts of love exchanged by families in open adoptions, along with an assortment of customs, crafts, and recipes just right for our multicultural families.
How to Adjust Invasive Assignments
Parents should expect school assignments that are difficult for their children. So be prepared.
Revealing Painful Adoption Details
Children need to know their full stories before the teen years. Why, and how, to explain troubling information.
No More Bedtime Battles
The safety and predictability of a regular evening routine can end go-to-sleep struggles with your preschooler.
Talking with Teens About Sex and Dating
Having “the talk” with your teen is necessary — and it can turn into an emotional conversation about birth parents.
Birth Parent Fantasies
Your child’s birth mother looms large in her imagination now. What’s your grade-schooler really thinking?
Explaining Adoption in the Classroom
AF readers share their tips and tricks for bring adoption to their kids’ classrooms.
“My Mother’s Ring”
This heirloom bridges the past with the future, connecting my daughter to our family in profound, unexpected ways.
Teens in Blended Families
When their family also includes biological children, adoptees can have complex feelings about siblings and their own sense of belonging.
“The Decision to Adopt a Child with Prenatal Drug Exposure”
Typically, I would have spent weeks — if not months — gathering information and exhausting every possible scenario. But there wasn’t time for analyzing. My son needed me.
Birth Parent Fantasies — and Fears
An adopted child may imagine life with her birth parents as “the road not taken.” Parents should share what they know and support exploration.
“Finding Her Voice After Eight Years Without a First Language”
Since adopting a deaf older child from China, it’s been my privilege to become her interpreter, her voice, her audience, and her mom.
“Becoming His Sister’s Guiding Light”
One year after adopting an infant girl, we adopted a “special needs” child with a cleft lip and palate. Ever since his sister was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, he’s become her guiding light.
All Grown Up
A parent’s role changes when a teen leaves the nest. Here’s how to start relating to your child as a young adult, and reinforce your bond.
Getting the Grandparents on Board
Their grandparents’ love secures our children a place in the family. Here’s how to teach the older generation about adoption.