Answers to your parenting questions.
Ask AF: Writing to an Unknown Birth Mother
Answers to your parenting questions.
“Our Relationship with Our Child’s Birth Mother”
Getting to know our daughter’s birth mother was a tremendous blessing.
Ask AF: Should We Try for the Same Level of Openness?
Answers to your parenting questions.
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.
Ask AF: How Do I Set Boundaries With My Child’s Birth Family?
Answers to your parenting questions.
“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.
AF Asks: Tell Us About the First Moment With Your Child’s Birth Mother
Our Reader Panel responds.
“Falling in Love with Adoption”
Although my family’s story is a journey still in progress, I’ve discovered a way to feel complete.
Explaining Different Levels of Birth Mother Contact to Kids
We know very little about our nine-year-old’s birth mom, but her younger brother talks to his. How can we help her?
“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.
Secret Thoughts of an Adoptive Mother
An honest examination of an adoptive mother’s feelings before, during, and after a transracial, open adoption.
“Open Adoption Converts”
Nowadays, I can’t imagine my family having come together any differently. But it wasn’t always that way.
“The Birthday Package for Our Son’s Birth Parents”
Photos and letters are the only things my son’s birth mother asked for. I hope that what we send expresses our gratitude.
Ask AF: Reaching Out to the Birth Father
How can we increase the openness of our relationship with our son’s birth father?
“Our Canadian-Colombian Family Reunion”
After returning from a trip to my son’s birth country, my heart — and journal — was overflowing.