My church gives out free advent calendars every year and I always pick up one to do with the kids. This year’s version should be in the adoption hall of shame (if there were one). Here are a couple of examples: Did you catch the gaffes?
Tag Archives: Adoption
Early Childhood Brain Development
Many adoptive parents know that our children may have experienced neglect in their early years. We also know that those years are critical to development, so I turned up the volume when I heard a report about this on Michigan Radio, an NPR-member station. Michigan Radio currently has a great series called “State of Opportunity,” aContinue reading “Early Childhood Brain Development”
Do you Like Being a Mom?
BE has asked me several times whether I like being a mom. And to be honest, sometimes I feel like shouting “no,” or just saying “it’s ok.” I want to always be honest with my kids, so sometimes I struggle with how to present the truth gently instead of harshly (because I can be veryContinue reading “Do you Like Being a Mom?”
Extending the Adoption Tax Credit
I love the New York Times, and I was excited to recently see an article in the publication about the adoption tax credit. The paper’s “Room for Debate” section asked five people to answer the question, “should the adoption tax credit be renewed?” Becky Fawcett, the co-founder and executive director of helpusadopt.org, advocated for theContinue reading “Extending the Adoption Tax Credit”
Changing Choices, not Personality
Like many adoptive parents, I’ve often wondered about the balance between nature and nurture. How much influence can parents have on their children, and how much has been predetermined? For now, I’ve come to the following conclusion: I can’t change my children’s personalities, but I can influence their choices. I don’t believe that my children’sContinue reading “Changing Choices, not Personality”
Making Mom Friends
Unfortunately, I can have a sort of “tragic” way of thinking about things. For example, I’ve often thought of my “adoptive” parent role as being completely unique (though I’ve never said so out loud). It’s true that many adoptive parents I’ve met have adopted infants or have adopted internationally – I haven’t met as manyContinue reading “Making Mom Friends”
Adoption: The First Chapter of Many
I’m really not fond of that analogy about people’s lives being like a book. Unfortunately, it was the first thing I thought about when I decided to write this post. In a previous post, I wrote about accepting the title of “mom.” I wanted to continue that theme, beginning with my past desire to “overshare.”Continue reading “Adoption: The First Chapter of Many”
Ownership
I had been working at my current company nearly two years when we were first awarded custody of our kids. As a result, many of my coworkers know that the kids were adopted and heard about the adoption process as we were going through it. The other day, one of my coworkers asked howContinue reading “Ownership”
A foster care law suit in Michigan
Michigan has done a lot to improve the state’s foster care system lately, but there are still problems. Michigan radio recently reported on a lawsuit that several parents have brought against the state’s Department of Human Services for failing to disclose that their adoptive children had special needs, which should have qualified them for federalContinue reading “A foster care law suit in Michigan”
It gets better
It really does get better. If your family is struggling, and it feels like you may never be a “real family,” you probably don’t believe me. I don’t believe it much of the time myself, and it doesn’t help that I tend to be a little pessimistic. So, sometimes, I need an outside perspective to showContinue reading “It gets better”
Shannon Mackie 