Recently, I reviewed Mirah Riben’s new book, The Stork Market: America’s Multi-Billion Dollar Unregulated Adoption Industry. Because this book contains some important information for those considering surrender, and because this book is currently being talked about on adoption.com, I decided to interview Riben to learn more about her views. In addition to The Stork Market, Riben is also author of shedding light on…the Dark Side of Adoption (1988).... more

Teen Pregnancy is considered an epidemic is this nation and more teenagers get pregnant in Milwaukee than just about anywhere else in the United States. Milwaukee is one of the top ten cities in the United States with the highest percentage of births to teen mothers, 6th in the nation to be exact.

The long term cost of a Milwaukee teen having a baby is over $79,000 dollars. The ramifications of teen pregnancy are never ending. Girls born to teen mothers are 83% more likely to become teen mothers themselves and children of teen mothers are more likely to drop out of high school prior to graduation themselves. But part of the problem is that teen pregnancy is becoming so accepted that... more

Last week, I shared a newspaper article out of North Carolina with you about the possibility of North Carolina teaching safe haven laws in the schools to students so that they could be aware that safely abandoning a baby is legal in that state. But a story coming out of Iowa has raised the issue of safe haven laws once again.

Ashley Tritt, an 18 year old from Solon Iowa, was vacationing with her parents, brother, and boyfriend in Florida. She hid her pregnancy from her parents and boyfriend and then gave birth alone, in the bathroom. She was arrested... more

I’ve heard a lot of hype about the new movie, Knocked Up, a comedy starring Seth Rogen and Katherine Heigl (from Grey’s Anatomy) directed by writer and director Judd Apatow.

You can guess by the title that someone is going to be pregnant in this movie. Katherine Heigl plays Allison Scott a twenty four year old television reporter and news journalist who is on the fast track to success and a big career.... more

A recent newspaper article in the Winston-Salem Journal, titled Proper Instructions, tells us about a new bill the North Carolina House Education Committee will soon meet to discuss. This new bill deals with the legal abandonment of newborn babies, known to most as safe haven laws.

The North Carolina Education Committee is proposing to implement a plan that will teach... more

If you’re a pregnant teen in a big city, there’s a chance you’ve encountered a relic from another time, an institution informally known as a P-school. I wasn’t aware that such schools still existed, but I read about them today in The New York Times. The news item is that New York City, which has four of these high schools dedicated solely to pregnant girls, is now closing them down. The P-schools were intended... more

I recently ran across this article. After a quick read, I was impressed with the program introduced in this article and found myself thinking there should be more programs like this one.

Real Alternatives is a program based out of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The state distributes five million dollars a year of tax payer money to a different pregnancy centers and maternity homes, one of these programs being the Real Alternatives program.

In the article we are introduced... more

A few weeks back, I wrote about the adoption storyline on one of ABC’s hit shows, Grey’s Anatomy. The particular storyline I previously wrote about was concerning one of the main characters on the show, Izzy. Izzy is a birthmother whose daughter was a patient at the hospital. As her biological mother, Izzy's bone marrow was needed to save her daughter's life. The adoption... more

If you want to read a really great article about what open adoption can be like, check out this story from The Washington Post. In the piece, entitled Open (Secret), reporter Liza Mundy follows the story of Hava Leichtman, a 26 year old woman who surrendered her son when she was 22.

Hava entrusted her child to other parents based on her mental illnesses (OCD, bipolar disorder, an eating disorder) and a lack of support from her baby’s father.... more

I’ve written before that teen pregnancy is considered an epidemic in the United States. Facts I recently surfed upon are startling. However, it is important to keep in mind that the rates are lowering. As startling as they may be, they have been higher in the past and seem to be taking a decline. But the United States teen pregnancy rates still remain the highest of other countries such as Canada and Australia.