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This guest post is by Maxine Chalker, founder of Adoptions From The Heart and an adoptee. November is National Adoption Awareness Month, which means that advocacy groups across the country have stepped up their community outreach. Organizations from the Dave Thomas Foundation to the US Children’s Bureau are working extra hard to celebrate the beautiful families built through adoption and get more people who may never have considered adopting to begin thinking about it. It’s just one month out of

This guest post is by Brian Esser, an attorney and adoptive father. Somewhere right this instant, an expectant woman is on her phone, Googling her way to the self-produced online profile of an adoptive parent or parents.  An email is sent, a connection is felt, and a match could be in the works.  It is modern, yes, but there is still that same “I just knew” person-to-person feeling there, the same moment of connection felt by an expectant woman leafing through

This guest blog is by Gayle H. Swift, an adoptive mother, adoption coach and author.  Here in the USA, November marks two important observances: Thanksgiving and National Adoption Month. I venture to say adoptive parents certainly feel deep gratitude for the privilege of being able to parent their children. Joining these two observances feels appropriate. Becoming adoptive parents delivered a visceral joy that many of us thought impossible.

This guest post is by Kerstin Lindquist, an adoptive mother and author.   Don’t adopt. Don’t adopt because you think you want to. Don’t adopt because it’s the cool thing to do. Don’t adopt because celebrities do. Don’t adopt because it’s an “option.” It’s not that simple. Don’t adopt if you’re not ready to lose everything. Not just a little, but all of it. Don’t adopt when your partner isn’t one hundred percent on board, You can’t do this without their

This guest post is by Juliana Whitney, an adoptee. Open adoption is filled with uncertain boundaries which everyone involved has to be keenly aware of. It’s one of those situations where you really have to get comfortable with being uncomfortable.  It requires an openness to vulnerability.   In an open adoption, you deal with the boundary between the adoptive parents and the biological parents, the boundary between the child and the biological parents, and even the boundary between the adoptive parents and

This guest post is by Tysie Stoyan, an adoptive mother. Almost two years ago today I became a firm believer that miracles really do come true. On December 29, 2015, as tears fell down my face, I held a little boy in my arms for the first time. Something I once believed was impossible came true. I became a mother. I never imagined that my life could have so much love, happiness and completeness in it. Five years earlier,  I

This guest post is by Makena, a birthmother.  It would be so easy for me to deny that I am a birthmother. I haven’t simply because I love being a birthmother and I love how big my family has grown all because of one choice I made to place my son for adoption. That decision has led me to where I am now. I learned to embrace its consequences and realized that not all consequences are bad. Mistakes often lead

This guest profile is by Alana Redmond, a writer. Writing an adoption profile isn’t as easy as it sounds. One word can determine your adoption status. It’s important to follow organized steps and take calculated measures in order to secure your status as an adoptive parent. Follow these do’s and don’ts when building your adoption profile to ensure your adoption process runs smoothly. 1. Don’t: Include long and unnecessary details about your path to becoming an adoptive parent. Many couples

This guest post is by Andrea, a birthmother.  I love you so very much. Nothing has or will ever change it. Finding out I was carrying you and making the adoption plan for you was the scariest thing I’ve ever been through. It has also been the best that’s ever happened to me too. I made an adoption plan for you because you were and are always my number one priority.

This guest post is by Rachel Garlinghouse, an adoptive mother and author. You’ve waited, and waited, and waited even longer.  But then the day finally arrives.  Congratulations!  You are matched with an expectant mother. Once the initial excitement wears off, worry and doubt will sink it. You ask yourself, “Now what?”   After all, building a relationship with an expectant mother can be uncomfortable and awkward, especially in the beginning. Essentially, strangers are suddenly thrust into forming a relationship, one