An article from North Carolina describes some new legislation being proposed which might offer adopted children contact with birth relatives.

The Legislative Study Commission on Children and Youth approved a draft of a bill to create guidelines under which biological parents or other blood relatives could stay in touch with children after adoption.

Another encouraging idea is a program which a local group... more

Expectant fathers have rights, too. However, they're often overlooked and sometimes trampled upon, even more so than expectant mothers' rights. That's what the Capital University Wells Conference wants to look at this year.

"No Parent Left Behind: Adoption and Fathers' Rights" will be held Thursday, February 17, 2007 at Capital University in Columbus, Ohio.

Four very interesting panels are planned for the day covering various topics in adoption and how they... more

I recently posed a question on the forums asking birth parents if they dream about their placed child. The response was a resounding, "Yes!" The question was prompted from a dream I had early last week regarding adoption in general. I know that my adoption related dreams intensified after Nick's birth. As some birth mothers shared their dreams with me, I saw a consistent theme: loss.

It's no secret that, for birth parents,... more

2006 has been a year full of hope for me as far as adoption goes. For me personally, it has been a satisfying year as I have spend vast amounts of time and energy in the adoption commmunity.

Here are some highlights:

1) My blogging experience here at adoptionblogs.com has provided me with a healthy outlet to write about many of my views on adoption. A side benefit for me has been the opportunity to meet many other talented, witty and warm bloggers that I have gotten to know a bit. Their friendships have been an unexpected bonus. My... more

Are babies blank slates? We used to believe that was the case. Does anyones still believe that is true? The whole premise of closed adoptions was that if you took a newborn and plunked it down into a different family, it would never notice or experience loss. The other element that went along with the baby not noticing that it was not with its original family was that most likely the child would end up solely taking on the traits of the family that raised it. Funny, I even used to believe that myself.

The whole nature vs. nurture argument has... more

Part 2 of Marney Rich Keenan's series about birth moms is on-line today in the Detroit News.

After so many years of adoption being such a secretive and never discussed topic, it is very heartening to hear adoption in the news so often now. Younger parents may have difficulty believing exactly how scarce adoption discussions were in the past. It is particularly encouraging to hear about the lifelong pain of birth moms. Hearing the same stories repeated brings validity... more

Ah, I am still here though I have been away for awhile. Actually, I was working on a writing deadline, then my home computer crashed - it is STILL in the shop. However, I am determined to get back to blogging anyway!

A post from First Mom blogger Jenna awhile back mentioned that she did not feel as though people thought her opinion as a first/birth mom was as important as one of an adoptive mom - or words to that effect. After a few years now of hanging around forums and blogs, one fact is abundantly clear to me. ALL moms want to be respected.

It... more

Serious and controversial are the rights of birth fathers. And with that comes the fifth recommendation in the Birthparent Study.

Recommendation 5: Require more aggressive protection of birthfathers’ rights by mandating their identification by birthmothers whenever possible, and by personally notifying all possible fathers of adoption proceedings. In states where putative father registries exist, they should be widely... more

I get sappy and introspective during the month of December. If my Husband can deal, so can you. I present to you the following quote:

"Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body." -Elizabeth Stone

Any parent can atest to the truth behind that quote. For example, right now, Nick is walking. They're those unsure steps that come right after the first few steps. Honestly, he'd still rather crawl. He can get there... more

No one chimed in on my request for opinions on the fourth recommendation, so I'll just say this: J & D lasted the required thirty days in the state of Pennsylvania. They didn't even avoid contact with me at that time out of fear that I'd think, "Aww, the kid sounds cute."

So why can't you?

It is my personal belief that if better counseling for expectant families (as followed by these recommendations and beyond)... more