If you are making an adoption plan and have been doing research on adoption, you may have seen the word “home study” or the words “home study” approved. You are probably wondering what a home study is?

According to the Child Welfare Information Gateway the home study process has three purposes: to educate and prepare the adoptive family for adoption, to gather information on the family, and to evaluate the fitness and readiness of a prospective couple to bring a child into their home and life.

Basically, a home study is... more

If you’re like most people, you probably have some strong opinions about the topic of teen moms. You might think the statistics prove that such moms are generally doomed to failure, that their kids turn out badly, and that such mothers cause problems for society as a whole.

Not so, says a writer who has published a book about teen mothers. According to her, recent studies show that while teen parents do typically struggle in the initial stages, most eventually do just fine, going on to create stable families and raise good kids. Entitled... more

The other day I stumbled across a site called GirlMom: Support, Community and Education for Young Mamas. If you’re a young woman in an unplanned pregnancy, I’d suggest stopping by for a visit.

Now, the site itself isn’t all that well-organized--it’s not easily navigable, and you have to wade through a lot of material to find what you’re looking for. And it may also be new, because several areas don’t seem to be built out just yet.

But I love the idea, and the feisty attitude. And already, there are some... more

We briefly touched on what open adoption is in the Types of Adoption Post from Friday. Since open adoption is so widespread currently, I feel like we should spend some time on it, so I'll do a short series on it. Not everyone has the same definition of open adoption and not all parties involved in an open adoption may want the same thing as another group of triad members involved in an open adoption. Open adoptions have to be tailored made to fit each... more

I’ve heard teen pregnancy considered an “epidemic” before. According to trends, reports, and statistics more and more teens are becoming sexually active which leads to more teens becoming pregnant. It’s a good possibility that if you are in an unplanned pregnancy and reading this blog, you could be a teenager. I though it would be interesting to explore teen pregnancy and talk with a teen that parented as a teenager as well as a teen that has placed a child for adoption. So I’ll be beginning a series on teen pregnancy over the next few posts/days.... more

This book isn’t related to adoption but is (in my opinion) a great book for anyone expecting whether they parent or place their baby for adoption. It was given to me by a dear friend. She purchased a copy for me when she purchased one for her child.

Letters to Baby is a collection of 68 letters to newborns passing along wisdom and inspiration. Each contributor was asked the same question, “What would you tell a newborn baby that you have found to be important in life?

The letters are written by various... more

I was sitting in a doctor’s waiting room the other day, waiting to get some immunizations for travel, when a book on the shelf caught my eye: Parental Loss of a Child by Therese A. Rando.

I had to take it down and look at it, and of course head straight to the index to see how much discussion there was of loss through adoption. I only had time to look briefly, but the content looked pretty accurate. One thing in particular stood out: the notion of adoption as an ambiguous loss, leading to unresolved grief.

What is an ambiguous loss?... more

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, that in conjunction with Heather’s post from earlier this week, I would find some educational resources that might be of help to you. If education is your main reason for placing your child and you feel torn between the two, perhaps, some of the information listed below will be of help to you. I believe information is empowering when trying to make a big decision like this. Even if you... more

In conjunction with Heather’s recent post on education and parenting, I thought it would be beneficial to provide you all with some resources as a follow up. If education is your main reason for placing your child and you feel torn between the two, perhaps, some of the information listed below will be of help to you. Even if you make an adoption plan, I still feel that it’s beneficial to have had this information, so that you were able to make an informed decision and not have so... more

Everyone loves a good Lifetime Movie, right?? I know I sure do! Adoption seems to be a popular topic for Lifetime movies. However, they often don’t display adoption in the most positive light.

Recently though, I watched a Lifetime movie that portrayed adoption positively. Mom at Sixteen is the story of a teenaged Mom, Jacey (played by Danielle Panabaker). When Jacey becomes pregnant, her Mom, Terry (Mercedes Ruehl) insists that she make an adoption plan. Jacey agrees and chooses adoptive parents. Right after her son is born; Jacey changes her mind and begs her... more