November in the Adoption Blog: Month in Review

by Pam Connell | More from this Blogger

30 Nov 2007 07:17 PM

I began the blog on All Saints Day with a tribute to certain "Saints" in U.S. Adoption and Pioneers in International Adoption. Then I wrote a tribute to the founder of my daughter's Korean adoption agency, who has lived an exciting and multifaceted life and is remarkable for his humble concern for children.

In honor of National Adoption Month, I wrote two blogs on Top Ten Myths about Adoption. For Part One, click here. For Part Two, click here. Then I wrote a blog about events on National Adoption Day, Saturday November 17. These events included finalizations of thousands of foster care adoptions across the country, often followed by parties for adopted children and families, informational exhibits about adoption, free admission to adoptive families at entertainment venues and conferences and appreciation luncheons for adoptive parents.

In Great Expectations I wrote a thoughtful blog on whether adoptive parents have the same expectations that their children will be like themselves as those whose children are biologically theirs. I also wondered whether I am more distressed when my birth child needs help than when my adopted daughters need it.

In honor of Thanksgiving I wrote Ten Things I'm Thankful for About Adoption Today,citing resources often not available to past generations of adoptive parents. I also wrote a blog about making a child feel part of your extended family as well as your nuclear family.

I wrote a blog about adoptive mothers breastfeeding --(yes, they do!)

I wrote a humorous piece called Some Days I Wish I Was Invisible, and followed it with two more serious blogs about how I feel sensitive about my parenting possibly being judged by those from my daughters' home country, called What Will They Think I'm Doing to One of Their Kids? And Developing Relationships with Cultural Communities.

Book and media reviews this month included Throwaway Daughter, a young-adult novel I recommend adults read first. I reviewed The Mislabeled Child, which gives parents pointers on going beyond the "learning disabled" label so many of our adoptive children have to look for the root causes of the problem, whether they lie in visual or auditory processing, sensory or memory issues, or others. This book gives parents practical pointers for strengthening children's weak areas.

Also practical are the suggested dialogues and interviews with adoptive parents in Talking with Young Children about Adoption, which has ideas for talking with toddlers through preteens.

I also reviewed the new book by Cheri Register, author of the adoption classic Are Those Kids Yours? Her new book is Beyond Good Intentions: a Mother Reflects on Raising Internationally Adopted Children.

I wrote about recent incidents of racism toward adopted children in Resources for Responding to Racism, which shared two websites and a magazine parents and teachers can use.

In a companion blog I reviewed the book Hate Hurts: How Children Learn and Unlearn Prejudice. This is a comprehensive work with an age-by-age guide to how children perceive differences, sample questions and responses children may have about diversity, ways to respond to bullying, exclusion, or offensive jokes; and combating hate at school, on the Internet and in the media.

Thank you for reading and I welcome your comments!

Learn more about Pam Connell

Pam Connell is a mother of three by both birth and adoption. She has worked in education, child care, social services, ministry and journalism.

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