I love happy reunion stories. I really do! We hear, so frequently, the stories that go wrong. This is partly due to the fact that when people have a good experience, they'll likely tell one or two people but when people have a bad experience, that number jumps to the double digits. We're more likely to rant and rave than we are to applaud. Human nature. This is only further compounded by the fact that the mainstream media isn't all that quick to report the good news. Stories of happy reunion don't fall under the "if it bleeds, it leads" motto of newsrooms everywhere.

And... more

This article makes me want to look up every adoptee and every birth parent in the state of Utah and offer big hugs. Granted, not every adoptee and birth parent would want my hugs but they could have them if they wanted.

And that's the point. If they don't want a hug, then they can decline. If they do, then we both win via hugging. Right?

Utah doesn't seem to get the idea of the ability to decline hugs. Or, ya know, reunion contact.

A bill that would let adoptees find out the... more

It's been kind of doom-and-gloom up in here lately, no? Thankfully, I have a nice little reunion story to share with my readers. This one hails out of India. (Be sure to visit the article because the pictures included are beautiful.)

Minda, a nineteen-year-old adoptee, and her (adoptive) mother Catherine traveled back to India to celebrate the 25 year anniversary of the home from which she was adopted. Many other adoptees and family members traveled for the event as well. As she... more

I like happy stories, especially happy stories that talk about reuniting adoptees and their biological parents. So let's talk about one!

In 2006, a Canadian adoptee received an award called "The Courage to Come Back" award. It was featured in the newspaper. Well, his biological Great-Grandmother saw his picture. And that's all it took, folks. One picture in the newspaper. Apparently the adoptee looks quite like his half-brother. And apparently Great-Grandma... more

Having worked for the television news media, I'm all too familiar with the general gloom and doom that is normally reported. Journalists, print or broadcast, know that "if it bleeds, it leads," and producers often push ratings and subscriptions (quantity) over things that viewers and readers would like to see or read (quality). However, sometimes that quality comes through and I'm always pleased to see when adoption is presented in a positive manner.

A reunion story out... more

We often hear about mothers and their relinquished children reuniting. If the biological father is involved in the reunion, he is often brought into the picture once the first mother has located the child. In a heartwarming story featured in the Des Moines Register, a biological father went out of his way to find his daughter; a daughter he didn't know existed for quite some time.

Birth fathers get a bad reputation. It's always assumed that they... more

I normally cringe at the term of "sperm donor." Many people use it as a way to diminish a biological father's role in an adoption. However, I actually meant to use that term in the subject of this post. Why? It's what the story in the New York Times is about: a man who donated sperm over a period of years and is now beginning to reunite with the children he thus fathered.

All opinions on sperm (and egg) donation aside, the... more