From the category archives:

Sense of Belonging

Reluctant Relatives

October 12, 2010

Sometimes the whole family isn’t completely on-board with the decision to adopt, especially if the adoption is a transracial adoption—a child that differs ethnically or racially from the adopting parent(s). One such experience my husband and I had was with his dad.
My father-in-law was “concerned” when we shared that we were adopting a child from [...]

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Triggers: School

September 1, 2010

The new school year heralds a clean slate, an opportunity to address the challenges and build on the successes from the past year(s). But a new school year can also take on added significance, especially if your child is moving into a new section; say from elementary to middle school or changing buildings or schools.

School [...]

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The Tale of the Ugly Duckling

August 2, 2010

Remember the story of The Ugly Duckling, in which a baby swan was hatched and raised by a duck? The mother duck could teach the ugly duckling everything there was to being a duck, but she couldn’t teach him about being a swan.
The baby swan was perceived as an outsider and, therefore, believed he was [...]

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Sibling Support

May 24, 2010

As your child begins to understand more about what adoption means, he or she may want answers…or not. I have found that two of my kids are very comfortable talking about “everything adoption,” comparing “notes.” (They were born in different countries.)
My kids have spun some interesting tangents off of the facts they do have. And [...]

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Identity Formation

May 18, 2010

Forming an identity is not as simple as it seems. Think back to when you were forming yours. Most likely there were a lot of starts and stops. You probably “tried on” a few personas, to see how they “fit.” You were seeking and defining your values, beliefs, and expectations of yourself and others.
In normal [...]

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Blood and Adoptive Relations

May 7, 2010

Depending on the child, the understanding of what “blood relations” means happens around the ages of six to eight. My kids began to ask very specific questions about how we were all related during these ages. With these questions came a better understanding of the differences between birth and adoption. My family is of blood [...]

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