Sucking the air outI would like to address a comment made on a blog that I wrote on July 2, 2008 entitled “Place Older Adopted Children With Stay at Home Parent.” In that blog, I stated that older adopted children typically come to their new family with abandonment issues. I realize there are many other issues involved, but I am addressing just abandonment for now. In the summary of the article I stated, “Try to find a way to spend those first... more

The actress, Edie Falco, who is most closely associated with her role as Carmella Soprano on The Sopranos, recently adopted a daughter, Macy, according to unconfirmed reports posted at several online venues. This is the second child, and second adoption for Ms. Falco, aged 44. Macy joins big brother, Anderson, who is currently 3 year old. Anderson was adopted in 2005, and was named after the mother of the actress, whose maiden name was Anderson.

Falco joins other recent celebrity adoptive parents, including:

Julie Haddon (The Biggest Loser, Season... more

For some time now, I’ve observed that right around the time my oldest goes through a growth spurt, we start to see really wonky behavior: crankiness, sleeping more, eating like there’s no tomorrow, and the like.

Though I saw, and still see, this with him, being that he was our only child, it didn’t occur to me to look for this same tie-in with our newest arrivals. But, boy, something is definitely in the air! My youngest has shown signs of regressing to certain behaviors we’ve not seen since shortly after his arrival here. He’s throwing mild tantrums, and being whiny, clingy and verbally very cranky.

My daughter, who lost another tooth today, has also displayed some undesirable... more

After I got a Social Security number for my son, the last piece of paperwork I needed was a birth certificate for my adopted child. While obtaining this document was technically not a rush, I was eager to put the adoption paperwork behind me. By the time my son was five months old, I had an adoption decree declaring him as my legal son, and I had a Social Security number. I was ready to end the adoption paperwork chapter of my life.

Unfortunately, my state is known for being particularly slow in issuing birth certificates for adopted children. The social... more

After I adopted my son, the two pieces of paper that stood in my way of being finished with the adoption-related paperwork were the birth certificate and the Social Security number. I did not really need the birth certificate right away because my son was years away from entering school or playing on a soccer team, but I really wanted that Social Security number. My husband and I wanted to set up an Education IRA for my son, and we needed a Social Security number to do this. While there are ways to work around this, they were cumbersome as well. I just wanted to obtain... more

While we are celebrating with parties today (or recovering from parties, as the case may be), let's focus on a fun part of adoptive parenting – the finalization party! After all of the hard work you did to become your child's parents, your family deserves to kick off your legal status as a family by having a party.

In my state, you do not go to court for the finalization if the adoption is uncontested. So, the paperwork just arrived in the mail one day with no pomp and circumstance. While that piece of paper was extremely important to me, there was nobody to celebrate it with.... more

I went on a job interview today. The last time I went on an official interview, I had one toddler. It’s been fifteen years, fifty+ more children passing through our family, and a lifetime of living since that interview. When I asked my kids what I should wear today, I knew I’d reached a different time of life. With the interview now over, I think it went very well. Whether or not I end up getting the job, my passion for the subject of this employment remains. The job is to train prospective foster and adoptive parents.

I remember back... more

Today was an adoption day in our family!

It’s been a long time coming. Still, I was surprised when it all seemed to go off without a hitch. No stop-ups! Not any major ones at least.

We left a little before 6am this morning. All showered, cleaned, hair fixed up, breakfasted. (This is a feat for my kids. It’s monumental for the mom!! I’m NOT a morning person!) Three vehicles packed full of children - all the way through one city in rush hour morning traffic - to the next city 2hrs away that was then... more

Our adoption finalization date is only a couple of days away!

I’ve been through this experience a few times before. Still, I am nervous and jittery. I think it’s a combination of excitement mixed with a little bit of fear that something could possibly go wrong to stop it. I’m sure that won’t go all the way away until everything is truly finalized.

So, we prepare.

We’ve called our family and friends. We’ve invited them to the courthouse for the adoption itself and/or to the lunch scheduled afterwards. It will be interesting to... more

Family Day/Gotcha Day is the day adoptive families officially become a family. We have three days to choose from - March 14th- court day and when were officially declared Livi’s parents. March 21st the day we were able to pick her up from the orphanage and March 30th the day we came home. All three days are equally special but I tend to focus on the day we came home for some reason. Maybe its because John would say that he would breathe easy once our plane landed in the good ole USA and that we were all safely home. To me March 30th... more