Search Results for: blog should you use an adoption agency

Guiding Others To Adoption

Every time my husband or I hear that someone is considering adoption we jump in with our story through the adoption process. Now my mom is even starting to do it. A client of her has a daughter that is considering adoption and so now she passes my information on to them. She tells people about the wonderful children just waiting in the foster care system for a forever home. It was funny she calls me up asking me what agency we used, who our case worker was and how long the process was. Do you know what my answer … Continue reading →

Should Gay Couples Adopt?

Even though my news alert folder has been filled with stories about this, I was not planning to write about it. I like to write about things that touch my heart in some way. I like to write about things that I can relate to a story from my past or something I’ve seen or read. I don’t want to go out of my way to be provocative and controversial. What is the controversial issue that I am so loath to cover, you might ask? Gay couples not being allowed to adopt. I’ve been getting stories from all over the … Continue reading →

My Last Blog

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This is going to be my last blog as the Adoption Blogger for Families.com. I’m looking forward to spending the summer with my kids, possibly working at their school, and taking on new writing projects. I may well guest blog occasionally for this or other Families blogs. It seems the Adoption Blog will continue, so I hope this blog, along with Families’ forums, can be a source of information and community for adoptive parents, adoptees, and birth parents. Yesterday I could think of a million things to say in my last few blogs and wondered how I would fit it … Continue reading →

“Big Fat Greek Wedding” Star Advocates for Foster Adoption”

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I’ve written about Angelina Jolie, Katherine Heigl and Madonna adopting internationally, and about Sheryl Crow adopting an infant and Sandra Bullock’s adoption of an African-American infant from New Orleans. (Breaking news on Bullock: gossip sites like “Anything Hollywood”and “igossip” are saying Bullock wants to adopt a sibling for Louis, and wants to start the process now and hope that it won’t take as long as Louis’ adoption. Bullock and her then-husband Jesse James applied to adopt nearly four years ago. I haven’t heard any mainstream verification of this, though. ) It seems rarer to hear about celebrities adopting from foster … Continue reading →

A Big Difference for Adopting Parents: the Adoption Tax Credit Renewed and Expanded

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Whatever you think of the new health care legislation, adoptive parents will realize one benefit: the Adoption Tax Credit, which was set to expire this year, will be renewed through December 21, 2011. The maximum reimbursable limit for adoption-related expenses was raised from $12, 150 to $13, 170. In addition, the Adoption Tax Credit will benefit families who have no taxes or a very small amount of taxes due, because it is now refundable. The credit lessens for adopters with income of over$ 180,000 per year, and continues to lessen as incomes go up until it is eventually phased out. … Continue reading →

Should There Be Dual Citizenship for Internationally Adopted Children?

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My last blogs were about the boy sent back to Russia and in which jurisdiction the abandonment occurred. (You can click here if you missed last week’s update .) I learned from his adoption agency’s website that children adopted from Russia to the U.S. have dual citizenship in both countries. This was news to me. Adopting from Korea, we were advised to inform our agency when the adoption was finalized so that they could sent a request to South Korea to remove her from the Korean citizenship rolls. This was especially important because all male citizens in South Korea serve … Continue reading →

Will Your Child Be Adopting this Month?

Maybe I’m just a Scrooge about Black Friday. Usually I don’t even read the ads because I know I don’t want to deal with crowds. I’m firmly sold on online shopping. Last night I saw some ads, though, and was tempted—I didn’t know some things would be over sixty percent off! Maybe this gripe comes from my general dislike for shopping, but I’m a bit skeptical of dolls that come with adoption certificates. The idea of taking yhour child to a toy store, wandering the aisles, specifying the exact eye color you want and handing over your money in exchange … Continue reading →

Adoption Nightmares

Many Americans remember the “Baby Jessica” case. In 1993, the U.S. Supreme Court let stand a Michigan Supreme Court decision to return a child to her birth father (who was by then married to her birth mother) after two and a half years with adoptive parents who had cared for her since very soon after her birth. The case caused outrage across the country. Media accounts railed against the courts for failing to consider the best interests of the child by taking into account the trauma a move would cause her. The birth parents were portrayed as irresponsible and selfish … Continue reading →

Adoption Education for Teens

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Last blog, I shared that few teenage mothers place their children for adoption. I believe many do not do so because of common myths about adoption. Many people do not understand that in domestic adoption today, a birthmother can choose the family she wants to adopt her child. She can choose a family most like hers, or most like the one she wishes were hers, in terms of religion, family structure, rural or urban location, beliefs about education and discipline, and more. Many people also do not understand that birthmothers in the U.S. seldom go through their lives wondering if … Continue reading →

The Church’s Program on Adoption

The wards and stakes of the Church have been asked to hold a program once every other year to talk to ward members about teen pregnancy and adoption. It’s estimated that every ward in the Church will have one teen pregnancy per year. While I’m not sure how that matches up with statistics from other organizations, I have to say I was pretty surprised to hear such a high number. A representative from our stake came and spoke to us this last Sunday, and I was overwhelmed with the message she brought. She spoke no words of condemnation, was not … Continue reading →