Our Blog

  • From Blogger To Author: Life Lessons From An Open Adoption Advocate

    Lori Holden has been blogging in her head since 1980 and online at Lavender Luz since 2007. I don’t know what her head has to say about making the transition, but I can tell you her readers — from all parts of the adoption constellation — couldn’t be happier. Here’s a sampling of their comments to a recent post: “Great post with lots to chew on!” “I’ve told you this before but I need to say it again you are

  • Why Every Adopting Parent Should Read A Birthmother Blog

    How many birthmother or birthparent blogs have you read lately? If you have to pause to think about it, you’re missing out on a great resource. I thought about this over the weekend after a birthmother asked me to add her recent adoption placement story to our Birthmother blog listing. Within moments of clicking on her site, I found myself lost in her story, going through all of the ups and downs of her journey with her. Why birthmother blogs

  • Pregnant? Thinking About Adoption? 5 Reasons To Rethink Your Plan

    Earlier this week I wrote about the timing of placing a baby for adoption —  whether there was a better time for a pregnant woman to start considering a plan and about the choices that other expectant mothers had made in creating a plan of their own. I mentioned that placing a baby for adoption was a complicated process with no easy answers. Each expecting mother had to make her own decision based on her own needs and wants as

  • How Do You Know When You’re Ready To Place Your Baby For Adoption?

    The other day someone asked me a question that I imagine a lot of expectant parents wonder about: How do you know when you’re ready to place your baby for adoption? Is there a sign or a voice that tells you that you’re ready to move forward with your plan? And if so, when does it happen — early in your pregnancy or later? Before the birth of your child or afterwards? As an adoptive parent, I’ve never had to

  • Adopting Into A Large Family: Benefits and Challenges

    Adding a child to your family through open adoption is always a blessing, whether it’s your first child or your fourth. Just ask Stephanie and Brian from our adopting parents page. They can’t wait to add another child to their New York family of five. As they write in their adoption profile, “We know that we are not the typical adoptive family, but that makes us even more special. Being part of a large family has so many wonderful benefits

  • The Open-Hearted Book About Open Adoption

    It’s hard to take issue with a book that calls itself The Open-Hearted Way to Open Adoption — harder still when that book lives up its billing in such an open and honest way that this one does. The Open-Hearted Way To Open Adoption by Lori Holden with Crystal Hass is a big, generous, and yes, open-hearted, book — the guide that the open adoption community has been waiting for. Insightful and entertaining, it not only explains why you should do an open

  • 11 Simple Ways to Get Your Online Adoption Profile Noticed

    How was your Mother’s Day? Tough going? Don’t feel like talking about it? That’s OK. You’re not alone. Many women trying to adopt feel that way. Mother’s Day is one of those holidays that reminds you of what you don’t have and leaves you feeling down in the dumps. But now that it’s come and gone, it’s time to re-group and and move your adoption plan forward — and more specifically, to find news ways to get your parent profile

  • Creating An Adoption Plan For Your Baby Around Mother’s Day

    If you’re putting together an adoption plan for your baby, you probably have a lot on your mind — figuring out how the process works, what kind of  adoptive parents you want to have, and perhaps even asking yourself whether you’re doing the right thing at all. Placing your baby in a family of strangers is tough to do, no matter what time of the year you’re thinking about it. Thinking about it now, in the lead up to Mother’s

  • Why I Feel Lucky To Have Found My Baby Girl’s Adoptive Parents

    This guest post is by Kari Wiessner, a birthmother. As a birthmother it’s always hard as Mother’s Day arrives. Yes, there is Birthmothers Day, but it’s not the same. Eight years ago, on November 23, 2004, I became a mother. Six months prior I had picked out a family for this little girl to go home to. Two days prior to her arrival into this crazy world, the couple backed out on me saying they did not feel I would