Our Blog

  • What We Owe A Birthmother: Open Adoption Through The Eyes Of A Lesbian Couple

    This guest post is by Heather Fitz, a hopeful adoptive mother. For my partner, April, and I, the month of May has been fraught with emotion. There was Mother’s Day, a holiday that held new meaning for us not because we’ve already adopted, but because we are approved to adopt whenever we match with a birthmother. For the first time, we weren’t just thinking about our own mothers and how much they mean to us. We also took the time

  • My Two Open Adoptions

    I have two stories about open adoption. The first one is about a closed adoption that was broken open by me. The second one is about an open adoption that was arranged by me with the help of a forward-thinking agency. I was born in 1960, and my birth mother didn’t make a plan for me. She gave me up, and harsh as that sounds to contemporary adoption language-tuned ears, that’s what happened. She didn’t have a choice. If she’s

  • The Moment A Birthmother Changed My Life Forever

    This guest post is by Shari Guess, an adoptive mother and author of Once Upon A Baby, A Tale of Adoption.  It seems impossible that this coming September it will be 10 years since my life was forever changed. That’s when a precious newborn baby boy was placed in my arms by one of the most courageous and loving women I will ever have the pleasure of knowing and I became a mother for the first time.

  • Adoption Failure, Then Friendship: What A Birthmother Taught Me About Finding the Right Match

    This guest post is by Lisa, a hopeful adoptive mother.  Being a mom has been the most rewarding experience of my life. I have found such joy in raising my daughter, Emma, who is now five years old. I am unable to have another biological child due to infertility but am just as excited about opening up our lives with the love of a baby or toddler through adoption. My strong desire to be a mom is no doubt the

  • 2 Adoptions + 1 Pregnancy = Joy

    This guest post is by Elizabeth Carellas of A Family of My Own Fertility & Adoption Conference.  When my husband, Peter, and I married in 1983, we always knew children were going to be part of our future. However, by the early-1990s we discovered that becoming pregnant was not going to be part of our life plan at that time, yet we still longed to be parents. After very few conversations we chose to look into adoption, preferably being able to bring

  • Dear Adoptive Parents, Open Up. Signed, Your Daughter’s Birthmother

    This guest post is by Lynn, a birthmother.   I am a birthmother to a 12-year-old girl named Janet. I actually named her Sarah but the adoptive parents changed her name. Janet was an unexpected surprise but I loved her from the very beginning. Janet has three other sisters that she has not met. Choosing to surrender Janet to adoption was the hardest decision I have ever had to make in my entire life.

  • The Difference An Adoption Support Group Makes

    This guest post is by Michelle,  a hopeful adoptive mother. It has been about eight years since my husband and I started on our journey to expand our family.  Our story is like so many others’ and yet everyone’s story is unique. We went through multiple medical tests, procedures, IVF and a miscarriage. After the last unsuccessful round of IVF, we took some time off from working on building our family and tried to figure out what we wanted to

  • A Birthmother In An Open Adoption: What I Want You To Know

    Placing a baby for adoption is one of the hardest decisions a woman can make. Jeanie understands that better than most women. She made the decision twice — placing two children, Kendrick and Taryn, now 10 and 7, with the same adoptive family at birth.

  • The Gift Of Adopting

    This guest post is by Elizabeth, a hopeful adoptive parent.  I’ve always been someone that gets what she wants. Yes, I just said that out loud. Before you scowl at me in disgust, please let me explain what I mean. You see, up until July 2011, things in my life came easy for me. Ugh! Ok, I’m still not coming across the way that I want to (insert embarrassed face).

  • How Open Adoption Made Our Two Families Become One

    This guest post is by Veronica Reno at Open Adoption Love And Support Network.  My dream of motherhood is a miracle that has come true. Motherhood is something I dreamed of since I was a little girl. After getting married to my wonderful husband, we were ready to start a family.