Adoption Needs A Makeover

It’s time for adoption to stop being a marketplace and to return to it’s roots where it was an option of last resort, but only after every other option had failed. And yes, I can see people get upset with the term marketplace, so lets talk about it, because, it is the reality today.

 

Fathers must have rights…

Supreme Court hears case of birth father seeking custody of boy adopted 3 years ago

“GRAND RAPIDS, MI – The attorney for a couple whose adopted 3-year-old son is at the center of a legal fight told state Supreme Court justices that the family is the only one he knows.

 

Reunion story and more…

Stumbled on a newspaper reunion article from 2018. The Adoptee was a Cole Baby adoption.

 

I’m tired, but I’ll keep trying…

Copied from this post in 2019

I’ve lost faith that most private adoption (DIA and DYI/DIA) will ever change to be child centered. Based on what I see, there seems to be little to no rigor in requiring people wanting to adopt be of a certain caliber, or have the ability to step outside of their wants, as long as they can tick specific boxes they get their homestudy approved, regardless if they are AP material or not. And when that happens only the industry wins, the child surely doesn’t.

 

Yet Another Agency…

“Modern adoption is not what it was many years ago. It is no longer a secretive subject. Most children who were adopted now know about their adoption story. In fact, most adoptions today are open or semi-open adoptions, meaning they know their biological parent(s) in some capacity. About 90 percent of children in an open adoption report having positive feelings about their circumstance. Their parents are encouraged by adoption professionals to speak about adoption, share age-appropriate information, and celebrate their child’s unique story of being loved by two families instead of one.” source

 

Deep thoughts this morning

We are up every day long before dawn even thinks of showing up. This morning, after I made a cup of coffee, I stood at the kitchen sink drinking my coffee and looked out the window mesmerized by the dense fog that had rolled in, the beauty it offers in the dark, the way it obscures and also softens reality, yet doesn’t fully obscure the physical shapes present, nor cover the eerie golden glow from the street lights, or the shadows of the trees.

 

New Year’s Day 2022

“Your assumptions are your windows on the world. Scrub them off every once in a while, or the light won’t come in.” — Alan Alda

We’d all be better if we took the advice above, myself included.

 

Dear pro-life would be adopter…

Originally posted 21 Sept 2015

Readers know I don’t use the term ‘adopter’ lightly, and it applies only to a few out there. I read a very disturbing post today by someone with infertility, who is pro-life and also wants to adopt. I was ready to rebut her post, it felt good writing thoughts down, but it wouldn’t have done any good. Instead, I decided to write this post, perhaps she’ll read it, or someone just like her. Perhaps it will trigger reflection, perhaps not, but I’ve tried in the kindest way I know…

She’s not ready to adopt…

It takes a lot of empathy, being able, and willing, to see all the different sides in adoption. To see the trauma the other sides go through, so you get what you want most, a baby. Some people never get there, and that’s okay, provided they don’t adopt.

To me, to be ready to be adoptive parents, it takes…

 

Didn’t sleep well last night.

Woke up in a mood you could politely say was cranky, that mood was because yesterday was a terrible day for women in the USA, a day foretelling the very real possibility of Roe v. Wade being struck down. And yes, I understand that the states could enact their own laws re abortion, but even if some states do, other states won’t and it will leave many without recourse, let alone a real choice, and yes, many women will have no choice but adoption.

 

Those Pesky “Bad Experience” Adoptees

Yesterday, I was reading an interesting post on FB about listening to Adoptees written by an Adoptive Mother. I was happy to see it, most comments were supportive and in agreement, but you know by now, there’s always at least one Adoptive Parent who just needs to divide Adoptees into two camps.

 

Links to posts on late discovery…

From 2015

Not that I can ever imagine what a Late Discovery Adoptee (LDA) goes through, I’m sure it would break my heart and take a long time to come to any level of peace.  I’m also sure there are many future LDA’s that will find out when their parents pass away and they deal with the estate paperwork, or decide one day to innocently take a DNA test that has become such a popular tool. Why did any parent think it was proper to lie to their child, especially, when others around them know the truth. Today there are parents of adopted children who don’t want to, or intend to tell, still. To me it’s selfishness of the worst kind, setting your child up for a heart-breaking discovery down the road, all to make you feel ‘real’ and keep your secrets. I have a hard time understanding anyone who willingly chooses not to tell – how can you parent your child with such a huge lie between you?

 

Lucky

I’m one of the “lucky” adoptees from the era referred to as the Baby Scoop Era (BSE). I’m lucky for all the reasons listed below and more. I also wish I never needed to be “lucky” in the first place.

And my use of the term Lucky is not giving any non-adopted person permission to use it in regards to an adopted person.