Answers to your parenting questions.
Ask AF: When to Share Birth Parent Information
Answers to your parenting questions.
Ask AF: Step-Adoption and the Birth Family
Answers to your parenting questions.
Deciding to Adopt: What About Birth Families?
“We cannot build healthy relationships with our children on secrecy and lies—and this includes lies of omission.”
“An Open Letter to Gramma B.”
You asked questions, but didn’t pry. You had brought gifts for your granddaughter, and I noticed that they were all things you had lovingly made or thought about carefully. The hour passed quickly and we said we’d be in touch.
Ask AF: Openness in Foster Adoption
Answers to your parenting questions.
The Basics of Open Adoption
What is “open adoption” — and what might it mean for your family?
“Our Leap of Faith: Finding Birth Relatives in Russia”
We made the trip, unsure whether we would even find Marina’s orphanage, and ended up finding the answers to her deepest questions.
[Book Review] Saving the Dream
A reader reviews Saving the Dream, a novel that explores the “What if?” questions that plague many families.
Ask AF: When Only Negative Details Are Known
Answers to your parenting questions.
“Dear Mom of an Adopted Child”
I knew you right away. I recognize the fierce determination. You are the kind of woman who Makes.Things.Happen. After all, you made this happen, this family you have.
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.
“Music in His Genes”
My son craves the comfort of music the way other kids his age rely on their blankets.
“We Always Called You Jason”
Fantasizing about my birth parents, I never dreamed my strongest link to the past would be through a flinty grandmother.
The First Conversation with a Potential Birth Parent
What matters most is not a list of questions or negotiating points, but finding a way to meet genuinely as people.
The Expectant Mom Match
On our Facebook page , we asked readers, If you adopted a newborn domestically, do you know why your child’s birth mother or birth family selected you? Here’s what you said
“Paying My Respects to My Son’s Birth Mother”
Our son came to us from foster care, in a closed adoption. So how did I find myself walking through the doors of a dark funeral home, preparing to introduce myself to his other family?
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.
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.
“It’s an Adoption Thing”
In this personal essay, one adoptive mother shares her relationship with her daughter’s birth family, and the memories that arise as they prepare to visit.