Survey for first parents

Received a heads-up about this very important survey from an adoptive mom friend of mine.
It’s actually for first parents, and the letter accompanying the survey link is written by Roberta MacDonald, chairwoman of the North Carolina Coalition for Adoption Reform and the state’s representive on the American Adoption Congress.
She explains the goal of receiving input in [...]

Meeting Hollee McGinnis of Evan Donaldson Adoption Institute

Tonight my local adoption group hosted Hollee McGinnis of the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute. A most-interesting presentation indeed — and I’m not just saying that because she drew my name as winner of the raffle for a signed copy of Adam Pertman’s Adoption Nation. Really.
I’ve got more to say on the evening, but I just [...]

Today’s NPR program on open records

If you can, tune in to NPR today at 3 pm (Eastern time) for its “Talk of the Nation” program which promises to be a lively discussion about access to birth and adoption records.
Panelists are Adam Pertman of the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute, Tom Atwood of the National Council for Adoption as well as [...]

Faces of First Moms

Nicole over at paragraphein is compiling photos of first moms and has begun crafting a most powerful slide show with a most simple purpose — showing how birth mothers aren’t any different than anyone else. Surely a fact that shouldn’t need explaining or proving. Sadly, though, it does.
She’s continuing to add photographs as she gets [...]

What she said, dangit!

“Keeping [birth] records closed perpetuates the myth
that open adoption is a fringe movement,
flirting with the potentially dangerous idea
of not cutting adoptees off from their families of origin.”
***
“Closed records play into the fiction that there is something
shameful in adoptees’ pasts. … They reinforce the idea
that first parents should disappear into the shadows
after relinquishment if they know [...]

Birthday, closed-adoption style

Today marks 36 years since my husband came into this world.
While candles, cake and jabs about him aging certainly are on my agenda, this day usually finds me pondering his bigger birthday picture.
After all, 36 years ago he became a baby waiting to be adopted.
The details of his first few months aren’t carefully chronicled in a scrapbook placed [...]

Open Adoption, Open Heart, And Needing More

I’ve had this post in my head for quite a while now. It’s existed in parts, none of them very well-expressed or complete in form, but I’m tired of it rattling in my head, and weighing so heavily in my heart, that I’m setting it free. In doing so perhaps there will be some relief, [...]

Gathering for adoption ethics

This fall, the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute and Ethica will bring together researchers, practitioners, authors and adoption and foster care activists for a conference outside Washington, D.C., on adoption ethics and accountability.
The two-day program in October, “Doing it Right Makes a Lifetime of Difference,” includes near 50 speakers and panel discussions and workshops on myriad issues, including [...]

Hot off the press

It seems folks over at my agency haven’t tired of me yet as they’ve just published my latest column on open-adoption parenting in their newsletter and on their website.
If a look-see strikes your fancy, ride the fresh link that’s nestled nicely in my sidebar and head to Page 10 and 11. And if I’ve got [...]

Courting Adoption

Fish Face,  March 2006
Maeve holding grandma’s hands on court finalization day
One year ago this week we sat next to our attorney, in front of a judge, and swore to love Maeve forever.
The day’s sights and sounds are as clear in my mind as if it were today: Waiting in the hallway with other families, children [...]