Quick! Someone fly me to the UK because I absolutely, 100% have to see this drama. I'll admit, when I was first reading about "Mine," I went into defensive gear. The adoptive family is portrayed as the be-all and end-all of what society can offer to a child while the expectant mother is, of course, a drug-addicted prostitute. I wanted to scream, "STEREOTYPING!" But the article addressed the issue almost immediately.

In... more

A friend of mine alerted me to something said by the star of Brooke Knows Best on VH1, Brooke Hogan. Apparently, for an upcoming episode, Brooke is contemplating going back to school which would involve leaving her music career or, at the very least, putting it on hold. The previews for this episode are hitting on this particular sentence.

Giving up my music is like giving away a newborn baby.

Let me assure you, Brooke Hogan, it's not... more

A new birth mother posted a question on the forums. Her question hit home with me and, I venture to guess, with many other mothers who have been through the relinquishment process.

When do you start feeling anything again after placing your child for adoption? It's been three months since he was born and I haven't felt anything since the day after I came home...

That numb feeling this particular birth mother is talking about isn't an isolated... more

Have you been enjoying our impromptu look at birth parents and adoption issues around the world? Me too! It really wasn't my intention for a series of posts this week but other countries are just putting out a bunch of information and I'm gobbling it up! Today I learned a bit about birth parents in Barbados from a piece in The Nation Newspaper.

What I found most interesting was the age of birth parents in that country. While the Evan B Donaldson Adoption Institute study on birthparents taught... more

Australia is a beautiful place, don't you think? Beyond the beauty of the land, I'm always impressed with the way this country handles adoption issues. In an article dated yesterday, I could hardly contain my glee for the members of the triad living down under. Why? Let's jump right to the meat of the proposals being discussed (and the one that makes me most happy).

Under the proposed scheme adoptive parents will automatically receive... more

I loved the novel The English American (which I reviewed here). But I love this article even more. Why? I always prefer real life to novels. And this article is such a feel-good but honest adoption piece that... more

I didn't ever really think much about celebrities adopting until reading this article about a pair of comedians. While I do think that some celebrities (and, ahem, politicians) have skip-hopped their way around certain protocol and that others could be more educated when it comes to how they discuss adoption with the media, I'm not particularly one to call out celebrities who adopt.

And then I read this line:

She also had to take out an injunction to stop her biographer revealing the identity of Billie's birth mother. That, she says firmly, is Billie's business when she is... more

I happened upon an interesting discussion on the forums. A family waiting to adopt was told by their attorney that Medicaid was "catching on to adoptive families" and advising hospitals to "hold the baby hostage" until the adoptive family agrees to pay or "pays in full in some cases."

I must first off commend those that spoke up and told this family to "run, not walk away, from this attorney." Shady, shady. However, I'm not all that surprised at the... more

Can I tell you something? I love reading about adoption (issues and all) in other countries and cultures. As Americans, myself included, we are often so ethnocentric that we think we're the only ones dealing with certain things. That's hardly ever the case. In this set of articles hailing from Ireland, I was really intrigued to read about the varied experiences of different members of the triad.

It started out with a piece by a journalist describing how her friend, a... more

I wish stories like this one didn't exist. But with unethical agencies and attorneys still free to do what they want without fear of consequence, fathers are going to continue to lose their children.

In short, Kareem Williams' daughter was placed for adoption without his consent. He has been fighting for her for four years. She has been living with the "adoptive family" that was chosen for her by the birth mother's family.

Looking at the few details... more