Mother’s Day Musings
My relationship to Mother’s Day has shifted substantially over the years. It didn’t mean a great deal to me until life surprised me with fertility struggles. Once it became clear that achieving parenthood was going to be an emotionally and physically draining obstacle course,
Being a Birth Mother
There are so many misconceptions about open adoption, adoptive parents, and birth parents. By sharing a little bit of my own open adoption journey, I hope some of these misconceptions will be clarified.
The Adoption Parenting Grass Isn’t Always Greener, or Is It?
Thirteen years ago this month, my husband and I made a road trip to Riverside, CA, to meet a pregnant woman. Two months after that first meeting, our son was born and placed in our care by his birth mom.
Text Messaging As First Adoption Contact
Your Adoption Parent Profile is done, and you’ve decided to include a personal cell phone number so that an expectant mother can call you directly. Instead of getting a phone call, you hear a “ping” on your phone and receive a text message: "Hi! Are you still looking for a baby?"
The Adoption Entrustment Ceremony
Creating meaningful ritual in open adoption
Rituals have always been used to signify a change or rite of passage, or to mark a transition in the life of a person or community. Although they are often interwoven with religious traditions, rituals can be anything that symbolizes and celebrates a life change.
Supporting Birth Parent Connection
Our office received a recent email from a 24 year-old woman who was placed with her adoptive parents at birth and it made our day!
Randie Bencanann: Thoughts on Retirement
Time to say good-bye
After 27 years at Adoption Connection, I’ve decided to step down/retire/move on/get-going … what is the right word?
Fostering the Adoption Connection with the Help of Mediation
In open adoption in California, birth parents and adopting parents have an opportunity to create a future contact agreement that will define the type of contact that the birth parents will have with their child and the adopting parents.
Are You the Nanny?—Coping with Invasive Questions and Ethnic Stereotypes
“Are you the nanny?” As a Latina adoptive mom of Caucasian children, I have lost track of the number of times I have been asked that question!
Lori Holden’s Open-Hearted Adoption Book
Adoption Connection is pleased to welcome author Lori Holden to the Bay Area. Her book, The Open-Hearted Way to Open Adoption: Helping Your Child Grow Up Whole, was written with the help of her daughter's birthmother, Crystal Hass. Lori answered a few questions about her book in our recent interview with her.
