Search Results for: blog why is hair an adoption issue

Book Review: Weaving a Family Untangling Race and Adoption

Barbara Katz Rothman is a sociologist. Much of her work has focused on the meaning of motherhood—ranging from studies of the modern midwifery movement, to the consumer pressure to buy for one’s offspring, to the Human Genome Project and the impact of genetics on identity and culture. These two interests– what it means to be a mother and what genes have to do with identity–merged when Rothman and her husband adopted an African-American infant. Rothman’s book Weaving a Family: Untangling Race and Adoption shares her insights, both professional and personal, on transracial adoption. Rothman’s title is inspired by the experience … Continue reading →

Young Kids Might Like New Hairstyles Too

We expect that adolescents and teenagers will want to have a say about their hair. Young children, on the other hand, are often expected to have no say in how their hair is cut and/or styled. Many of us get in a “groove” and once we have found a style that works well with our child’s hair we just keep cutting the same month after month. Your child might have a preference, or it might be time to make a change—even young children might like a new hairstyle now and again. Think of what a saucy new hairstyle does for … Continue reading →

Life With Curly Hair

I used to hate my curly hair. I was so envious of friends with straight hair, even when they had perms! My hair was wild and poofy and unmanageable… and it still is. These days, I’ve learned to love my curly hair. In general, curly hair tends to dry out easily. It can be more brittle than straight hair, and can be prone to frizzing. Regardless of length, you may spend more time taking care of your curly hair than your straight haired friends spend on theirs. So how can you make your hair care routine easier? Some hair-care experts … Continue reading →

Why is Hair an Adoption Issue?

Did you know that hair is relevant to adoption? It isn’t one if you adopt a Caucasian, Asian or Hispanic child. However, when you make the decision to adopt an African, Haitian or African American child, suddenly this issue springs to life. I was surprised at first to find out that hair is a big issue in adoption. Several African American friends have pulled me aside either to offer their help or to remind me that it is important to learn how to do Laney’s hair. I also read that hair is the main reason that some African Americans are … Continue reading →

Top 20 Countries for International Adoption

Choosing a country is one of the first decisions that those adopting internationally have to make. There are a number of reasons why you need to decide on a country. First of all, the country you choose determines the agency that you choose. Not all agencies work in all countries. Instead, agencies tend to focus on just a few nations. Secondly, you need to have a country selected in order to have your homestudy done. If you change your mind, you can have the homestudy rewritten, but you will have to pay an extra fee and it will also take … Continue reading →

Breast Cancer Awareness

October is breast cancer awareness month. As a single mother it is so important to take care of your health. Your children are depending on you to be healthy for them. Of course there are times when things happen that are completely out of your control. You can be eating right, exercising, doing all the right things and still end up with this life threatening disease. The important thing is that you are doing routine self exams and annual mammograms so that you can catch it early on. We all know that mammograms aren’t very fun. They are painful and … Continue reading →

Something You Should Know

We have three children that came to our family through adoption. All three children are siblings, they have the same biological mother but they all have different biological fathers. The biological mother is Caucasian and one of our sons has a father that is African American. With us being Caucasian we were not really sure about different skin and hair care issues that a child of an African American race we would encounter. The first difference that we came to was when the Pediatrician told us he was “ashy”. What the heck is “ashy”? I had no clue, but I … Continue reading →

Never Underestimate the Power of a Role Model

Our family decided to hire a college exchange student from Korea through an au pair agency. I had initially been hesitant, longing for more cultural exchange with Koreans but fearing that I would be judged on my parenting skills, or that someone from another culture might be prejudiced against adoption in some way. Meg herself told us she didn’t want us to get a Korean au pair. (We’ve had two previous au pairs from Brazil, whom Meg loved.) But we thought that having a role model of a young Korean woman would be good for Meg’s self-esteem, so we took … Continue reading →

Fears, Myths, and Realities About Being and “Older” Mom

While I write often here in the Parents Blog about life with three teenagers as a single parent, I do not really write about my plans to continue parenting and add to my family through adoption. As I sit on a “waiting list,” waiting for a referral, I do some volunteer work with some local special needs adoption organizations and prepare myself for becoming a single mom all over again. I have a few very supportive friends (whom I cling to) and plenty of people who wonder why on earth I would want to continue parenting now that I’m nearly … Continue reading →

Kids’ Books Starring Internationally Adopted Kids

In two previous blogs in my series on adoption-themed books for kids, I talked about adoption books specifically focused on children from China and on kids from Korea and Vietnam . This blog showcases books featuring children adopted from Eastern Europe and Latin America. I also highlight books which feature internationally-adopted children without specifying a country. Eastern Europe: Borya and the Burps: An Eastern European Adoption Story Author Joan McNamara tells of how Borya was used to being in his crib in the room with many other cribs, and how wonderful but how strange it is to be with parents … Continue reading →