Our Blog

  • How My Failed Shopping Experience Could Help Your Parent Profile Find Success

    On Friday, I told you about my failed attempt to buy an e-reader. But my experience wasn’t a complete waste of time. After noticing the parallels between my shopping excursion and the experience of writing a parent profile, I managed get a blog post out of it. Today, I want to return to the subject, although I promise this will be the last time. That’s because I realized that if I thought choosing an e-reader was tough, imagine how a prospective birth

  • What Gets You To The Front of The Line In Private Domestic Adoption? (Hint: It’s Not Cash)

    Just starting the private domestic adoption process? Looking for ways to succeed quickly? Sorry, you won’t find any secrets or shortcuts here. But if you thought you could buy your way to success, think again. Finding a match by outspending other hopeful adoptive parents is one of the (many) misconceptions about private domestic adoption. And it’s one that came up again this afternoon when I clicked on this headline in my news feed: “Time for adoption reform is now.”

  • 3 Reasons Writing Your Parent Profile Is Like Holiday Shopping

    I don’t know about you, but once again my holiday shopping plans have taken a turn for the worse. My problem isn’t in finding what I want. It’s in making a decision. Earlier this month, I set my sights on buying an e-reader. But with so many products, models, and styles to choose from, I got so overwhelmed that I eventually gave up and came home empty-handed. Maybe I should stick to paperbacks, after all. My shopping experience may have

  • Domestic Adoption Scams: Why December Is the Cruelest Month

    You better watch out You better not cry You better not pout I’m telling you why Adoption scams are coming to town. Actually, they’re already here. In the last few weeks, two domestic scam stories have made national headlines. And who knows how many others are out there that haven’t made it on the news. Finding yourself on the receiving end of an domestic adoption scam is not a pleasant experience. But having it happen now — as your thoughts

  • Introducing “Ask An Adoption Attorney”: Your Open Adoption Questions Answered by A Legal Expert

    Got a burning legal question about open adoption? Want to find out more about birth mother or father rights or open adoption agreements but don’t have the time — or the budget — to hire an attorney? Our new “Ask An Adoption Attorney” feature can help you find the answer. Simply post your question in the comments section below. We’ll forward it, along with the others we receive, to an attorney specializing in open adoption. Then we’ll post the results

  • 8 Reasons To Join An Online Open Adoption Community

    Congrats! The fact that you’re reading this means you know the Internet is a great place to find information and resources about open adoption. In fact, for many prospective adoptive and birth parents, it’s the first place they look when they’re researching or starting the process. But apart from that, it’s also a great place to become part of a larger community. Before Web 2.0, discussion forums and listservs were the places where hopeful adoptive families and expectant parents hung

  • The Most Wonderful Time of the Year?

    December is here. And that means only one thing: The holidays are just around the corner. Yikes! Are you ready? So how are you making out with your holiday shopping? Are you dreading it? For most people, the next few weeks are all about being stuck in long lines at the mall or on the road listening to Andy Williams sing “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.” Clearly, he never tried to adopt. For hopeful adoptive parents, this is

  • What We Talk About When We Talk About Adoption

    The other day I asked for your thoughts about open adoption — what you like about it, what you don’t like, and how you would improve the process. The call-out was inspired by a feature we ran last month on the Facebook page of our sister site. Each day, to mark National Adoption Month, we invited members of the triad to share their thoughts about their own journeys and about how adoption has touched, enriched or changed their lives.

  • Don and Preetha Are Looking To Adopt

    I don’t know Don and Preetha. But I do know something about them: they are looking to adopt. The reason I know is because that’s what their Facebook name says. Here’s what else I know about them: They’re giving their adoption search their best shot, but are trying not to think too much about how it will all work out in the end