Open Adoption Blog - Latest Comments

Re: Making the most of Facebook for your adoption

Gift of Life Adoption — Sat, 28 Jan 2017 04:45:31 -0000

The first step to choosing an adoption agency is to make yourself a good
consumer. Gather as much information as possible about adoption,
agencies, and state requirements. Explore the range of available options
and the various programs. If your options seem limited, don't rule out
any possibility without thoroughly researching it. Spend at least two to
three months investigating all alternatives before deciding what is
right for you.

Re: Waiting to Adopt: Older Sibling Adoption Books

Gift of Life Adoption — Sat, 28 Jan 2017 03:41:51 -0000

Thank you for your story. I am in the process of making the decision to foster an infant.Great job,you are an angel too. God bless you.

Re: Preparing for a Home Study: What You Need to Know

ashlyn — Thu, 19 Jan 2017 17:03:29 -0000

Single and adopting getting ready to have my first home study. Can anyone give me any ideas on what some of the questions they would ask?

Re: Waiting to Adopt: Prepare a first aid kit specifically for children

Gift of Life Adoption — Thu, 01 Dec 2016 09:04:13 -0000

There are so many kids who need love. Adoption can be such a great thing for them and the families they end up in. Thanks for the information!

Re: LÍLLÉbaby and The Guncles Partner to Create A Baby Carrier That Celebrates Adoption

Gift of Life Adoption — Thu, 06 Oct 2016 04:33:42 -0000

I think the formality have to be there. You know kids have innocent minds. They actually gotta have to go with what the elders have to say. In styling their hair, its best to follow this tips.

Re: Our First Father’s Day Knowing You

Lenny Estrin — Sun, 11 Sep 2016 10:15:06 -0000

Hi Amalia, this is amazing. Campbell is very lucky that she is having great parent in her life.

Re: Passing On A Mother’s Love

Lenny Estrin — Sun, 28 Aug 2016 02:35:16 -0000

Mother are always happy if she is going to have baby though she is giving birth or doing adoption. Mother know how to keep happy to their children when they are young or growing up. She help them at every stage of life.

Re: SIDS Facts: Countering the Myths

Christen Moo W — Sat, 16 Jul 2016 23:56:39 -0000

Just because the SIDS rate has decreased since the back to sleep campaign was implemented does NOT mean the decreased rate was CAUSED by the back to sleep campaign. The SIDS rate had already been declining since the late 80's and there are many countries where there is no back to sleep educational program that SIDS rates have decreased by the same amounts. Also, sleeping babies in the same room with the parents has been proven to reduce the SIDS risk by 50%, so wouldn't that be a better topic to tackle than stomach sleeping? Your artice purports that stomach sleeping increases the risk by up to 18%, but in actuality, most research shows a difference of .5-1%. I would be very interested to see the study you're referring to properly cited. Not to mention, if your children were old enough to be eating solid foods, they were old enough to roll onto their stomachs by themselves, so even if you put them on their back, they could still end up on their stomach and the AAP does NOT recommend that you roll them back onto their backs every time they roll over. All in all, this article is a personal attempt at making sense of a tragedy by placing blame on a parent for not following the rules, when the rules you're accusing them of not following didn't even apply at that developmental stage of the child.

Re: Our First Father’s Day Knowing You

Will Collyer — Thu, 30 Jun 2016 14:42:36 -0000

Thanks Lizzy!! We love you!!

Re: Our First Father’s Day Knowing You

Regan DuCasse — Thu, 30 Jun 2016 13:44:35 -0000

oh man....my heart gets so full hearing this. LOVE you Will...Campbell IS a lovely little angel.
With THE most kissable cheeks EVER!!

Re: Our First Father’s Day Knowing You

Lizzy Campbell — Thu, 30 Jun 2016 13:15:47 -0000

I knew from the moment I read your profile that you guys were going to love this child with everything you had. That 16 years of love, memories, and adventures that you two shared was going to be an amazing foundation for this little girl to grow. As a birthmother this experience could have gone so many ways. I feel that I have received the best path that could have ever been presented. What could have been a very painful and saddening experience was filled with so much joy and love by the both of you and words can't express my gratitude. I love you both with all my heart and that little girl as well. You guys will always have a special part of my heart and I'm so excited to see the amazing things that your daughter will grow up to be and do because of you two. xoxo love, birth mother.

Re: Preparing for a Home Study: What You Need to Know

MRS.Alfaro — Thu, 23 Jun 2016 15:32:17 -0000

God Bless your home.

Re: Should I work with An Agency or an Attorney?

Anne Newton — Fri, 10 Jun 2016 16:28:33 -0000

thanks for sharing the differences of adoption agencies and attorneys.

Re: Staying Positive in the Midst of Challenges

DwaineandNakeena — Tue, 17 May 2016 19:25:22 -0000

Thanks for sharing this. We've just started our journey and emotions started to flood in about how we'll deal with any challenges that may lie ahead. Your candor and positive outlook about difficult moments is inspirational and something we can look back on as additional support when needed.

Re: Passing On A Mother’s Love

lyndamcilmoil@yahoo.com — Thu, 12 May 2016 16:28:10 -0000

Having children around is fun, challenging and at times chaotic. Sometimes at least for me, I would wonder how all this would work out, raising children. We are so proud looking at our children now as mature adults who have become these beautiful souls, full of confidence and their own talents. Honestly, we as your parents have come full circle. We have experienced all the challenges of raising children and have also experienced the silence of the empty household as our children have moved on to start their own families.

It will be an absolute joy to have a little one to cuddle with and watch grow. I look forward to making a difference in another child's life. I too, am ready to take part in another round of the "Circle of Life" only this time I'll be called Nonna :-)

Re: Healing After an Adoption

Anne Newton — Mon, 28 Mar 2016 11:53:42 -0000

Alice, Thank you for sharing such and important post. While yes, there are many perspectives to be considered and many have healing to do, the importance of acknowledging that you need help is undeniable.

Re: Trans Couple Considers Adoption

Anne Newton — Tue, 22 Mar 2016 11:53:38 -0000

I hope this opens the door for families of all kinds to adopt. Interesting to think about the choice for a transgender family, I'm looking forward to seeing the My Life series.

Re: Loose Parts in Open Adoption

Christien Barone — Fri, 08 Jan 2016 11:47:54 -0000

Oh this Is so Sweet .Bless u Ana and Family <3

Re: The Role of Social Workers in Adoption

LaTrice Dowe — Sun, 22 Nov 2015 01:44:07 -0000

This is something that I want to pursue.

Re: Staying Positive in the Midst of Challenges

Claudia Arce — Thu, 19 Nov 2015 22:18:54 -0000

I feel identified with your post, we lived the same situation at the same time, after we hold the baby; spent the first night with the baby in the hospital, and everything looks normal until she got ready to leave the hospital, she decided to parent and sent a text to us.

Re: Traditional Match Versus A Last-Minute Placement

Marisa — Thu, 19 Nov 2015 18:51:50 -0000

I remember your family from the meetings in Concord when your son was born! Congrats on your beautiful daughters! We had matches that were traditional and matches that were last minute... and ultimately had a last-minute situation that led us to our daughter. I'd say I favored the last-minutes. It was as crazy as all get out, but somehow it seemed so much more manageable than the dragged-out ups and downs (but probably because things weren't always going so well) of the longer matches. All the puzzle pieces just seem to come together with the last-minute. Very nice analysis of your different experiences!

Re: Managing The “Mom Factor” As Same-Sex Parents

lance klug — Tue, 03 Nov 2015 21:44:09 -0000

Thanks for the diaper advice - we'll start stockpiling.

Re: Managing The “Mom Factor” As Same-Sex Parents

Happy Family — Tue, 03 Nov 2015 13:29:09 -0000

I appreciate the time you've taken to reply to my comments and share your thoughts. You two seem like a nice couple who are speaking from the same place my husband and I were speaking from before we matched. Although I feel your intentions are good, frankly I feel you have spoken out of turn. And IAC allowed you to do so. After the birth of our daughter, we have reached out to several other couples for support and guidance. In living the life, instead of just imagining it as you are, we have learned many truths about raising our daughter as two dads. The most important is that WE ARE HER PARENTS, To say that our daughter deserves a male or female influence is to say that we are incomplete as a family and can only be complete through the addition of an opposite sex figure.

What our daughter deserves is family who loves her more than life itself. She has many, many 'Uncles' who could not imagine life without her. And she has everyone else who normally comes with a family; some of them happen to be female. But we never once sat down and mapped out who she 'deserved' to have in her life. Especially people sought after because of their sex.

I suppose what offends me is that you two are speaking as if you are parents and have any clue what it is like. To have two men, who aren't even parents yet, try to educate others on managing the mom factor is ridiculous. It's like two men writing an article on how to fly a plane in an aviation magazine when all they've ever done is play a flight simulator on their PC.

Guys, you have no.idea what you're talking about. And IAC let you do it when they allowed you to write that article. It's sweet, and naïve and offense to some. IAC should have seen this train coming when they they emailed this newsletter to both prospective and established families.

And to IAC, my husband and I have done our part in helping with the eduaction after we adopted. If you would have reached out to us we would have written on the same subject but from a more informed perspective, including real life experiences and challenges. We have before, having our story published in a national magazine before.

Guys, good luck in your adoption. I know it takes forever but when it does happen, you are going to feel love in a way you have never felt was possible. Oh and one thing you are never taught in 'adoption school' is the price of diapers! Open two accounts now, guys. One for college and one for diapers!

Re: Managing The “Mom Factor” As Same-Sex Parents

lance klug — Mon, 02 Nov 2015 14:59:20 -0000

Hi. My name is Lance Klug and I'm the author of the 'Managing the mom
factor' blog. I'm sorry that viewed our post as offensive in any way, because that was not our intention. As dads-to-be who have devoted a lot of time and emotion into this process, the goal of the blog post was to illustrate our thought process to a potential birth family as openly and honest as possible. We believe same-sex parents, single parents or even extended family members are more than capable of raising a happy and healthy child with no one else around - countless people have proven that to be true. As a proud LGBT family ourselves, I was not implying anything to the contrary and I believe the mischaracterization of my words was unfair.

For us, specifically, we do think it's important for our child to have strong female role models. It's equally important they have strong male role models. Also, strong role models of various racial/ethic backgrounds. This post was centered on 'how we plan to manage the mom factor' - which is why we highlighted the strong connection to the women in our lives. I know our child will value these influences as much as we do.

Thank you for taking the time to give us your feedback. We hope this Reply clarifies our intention.

Re: Managing The “Mom Factor” As Same-Sex Parents

lance klug — Mon, 02 Nov 2015 14:38:21 -0000

Hi. My name is Lance Klug and I'm the author of the 'Managing the mom factor' blog. I truly appreciate your comment and the feedback you provided. My husband and I are very interested in the perspective of dads like you and I hope to read a future blog that outlines your experience. It's interesting that you read the same literature before, but real-life turned out to be so different. I think it's a fascinating idea to explore.

For our part, we can only speak to our specific adoption journey and the place we are right now. I tried to speak as honestly and openly as possible and hope that readers can appreciate our perspective for what it is: the thoughts and feelings of two hopeful dads-in-waiting.

Thanks again for your feedback - and thank you IAC for allowing us this platform.