Birthday Blues
An adoptive mom shares her reflection on her daughter’s first birthday and her heart for her daughter’s first mother.
What Open Adoption Isn’t
Open adoption and what that means can be a confusing and misunderstood subject. Today an adoptive mom, former Purl client and therapist shares her own thoughts on what open adoption isn’t, in order to address some of the misconceptions on the subject. To learn more, click here.
What a Mother Who Chose Adoption Wants You To Know
At Purl Adoption Advisory, we want all members of the adoption triad to feel cared for, honored and valued. While we exclusively help prospective adoptive families, we believe that all adoptive families should learn from the perspectives of adoptees and birth families. Today, a courageous woman shares on the blog today about placing her child with her adoptive family and answers some important questions regarding her experience.
A Foster Care Adoption–One Foster Parent’s Perspective
A foster parent shares her experience of fostering to adopt her son. This journey and route of growing our families differs greatly from private infant adoption, and yet yields similar results: a child cherished, gained and celebrated.
How Naive I Was About Race
As you probably know, February is Black History Month. I often feature other writers or adoptees to talk about race and transracial adoption, since I can’t speak to that from personal experience. I was admittedly naïve about transracial adoption before my own personal adoption experience, even though I always considered myself someone that was very open on race, in my words “color-blind”.
First off, a little about me. I grew up in the suburbs of Tucson, Arizona….
The Hospital Experience for a Prospective Adoptive Parent
We have discussed the domestic adoption process for a prospective adoptive parent up to the point where you are matched, have traveled, and now have arrived at the hospital. You have prepared a gift for the expectant family, you are being as flexible as possible in the hospital because you know adoption plans change and are fluid, but wow, are you stressed! The period of time between the birth and the signing of consents is rough, there is no way around it. It is obviously very hard on the expectant family, who are likely making one of the most difficult decisions of their lives. But it is also very difficult as a prospective adoptive parent. Read my own experience with this waiting period, I called it “An Adoptive Parent’s Labor”.
Respect and Empathy for Expectant Mothers
I’ve heard of a few circumstances lately where prospective adoptive parents act entitled to the child they have been chosen for, both before and after the birth of the child, but before consents are signed. This is one area I feel like prospective adoptive parents pursuing domestic infant adoption need the most education on - the respect and love that is required for any expectant mother they come into contact with in their adoption journey, and ultimately for the birth mother for their child.
National Adoption Awareness Month
To honor and recognize National Adoption Awareness Month this year, I’m going to post each day about some topic in adoption. I’ll start with telling you about me, the founder of Purl Adoption Advisory, the business I launched to the public two years ago this month. I’m an adoption advisor who acts as a planner and guide for prospective adoptive parents in a domestic infant adoption. I am an attorney by training, but left my corporate law job after adopting my daughter Cora because I felt like there was a better way to adopt and I was eager to help other families navigate the complex world of adoption.
Finding Hope in Adoption and Parenting
This is a guest blog post written by Amy Stewart, mom through adoption to five children, Pediatric RN, and founder of Hope in Adoption, LLC.
After five pregnancy losses and years of failed fertility treatments, my journey to parenthood felt hopeless. The pain, grief, and loneliness I was experiencing felt too much to bear. It seemed everyone around me was celebrating carefree, successful pregnancies with ease. As my husband and I considered adoption as an opportunity to grow our family, the extensive process quickly became legally, financially, and emotionally overwhelming. Yet adoption seemed to provide hope in a time of darkness and despair. As a Registered Nurse and parenting educator, I started Hope in Adoption LLC to provide evidence based research parenting education and parenting support to all, including traditional, adoptive, and same-gender parents. My mission is to help everyone adopt parenting tools that work.
The Brokenness and Sadness Inherent in Adoption
Does the brokenness and sadness inherent in adoption hit you at the weirdest times?
I have an odd combination of interests, I am a huge college football and basketball fan having spent part of my career working in college athletics, but I also absolutely love musical theater having grown up in that world. Luckily my husband is usually game to catch a musical with me, and last week we went and saw the revival of Miss Saigon when it came through town. It was one of the few popular musicals I hadn’t seen, and I was so excited to go even though I was exhausted due to my two toddlers’ sleep regressions and newfound middle of the night fears.
