A few good reads from this week. As always, I don’t necessarily agree with all the opinions expressed but do appreciate that they were expressed and provided perspectives worth considering.
Adoption-Related Links:
“The List” over at Shaun Groves – Shaun and his wife are considering adoption and their social worker gave them this exercise to paint a vivid picture of all their child will have lost in the process of becoming their child.
“Pennsylvania, Adult Adoptees Still Waiting for their Rights” by Amanda at The Declassified Adoptee, advocating for access to ones own birth records.
Transracial Adoption – a 16 minute video. Read the rest of this entry
I don’t know if it’s that everyone made a New Year’s Resolution to write more in-depth blogs or what, but there were tons of great, thought-provoking posts written this week! So this is going to be my longest link-roundup to date.
As always, I don’t necessarily agree with all the opinions expressed but do appreciate that they were expressed and provided perspectives worth considering.
Adoption-Related Links:
“Why Didn’t You Say Something?“ at The Declassified Adoptee on why she waited until her adulthood to really verbalize her feelings on having been adopted – and the Adoptee Rights advocacy she’s involved in today. Also, earlier this week, she wrote “January 3rd: One Year Ago We Said “Hello Again.“ – about the day she spoke with her first mother for the first time in nearly 25 years.
“Why Continue?” at Our Little Tongginator – adoptive mom in process for a second time on their reasons for adopting, even as some people strongly disagree with her choice to do so.
“Adoption Investment“ at Adoption Paradox – her feelings on being told that being adopted cross-culturally gives her “the best of both worlds.” Read the rest of this entry
A few good reads from this week. As always, I don’t necessarily agree with all the opinions expressed but do appreciate that they were expressed and provided perspectives worth considering.
“Ignorant Questions About Open Adoption“ from O Solo Mama sparked a string of responses all over the Internet. A couple I read:
“Catching a Grenade You Threw Can Be Messy“ at My Mind on Paper – regarding how adoptive parents view the birth parents of their children – and how the kids receive that, whether spoken or not.
“Salvadoran Folk Art“ at Latina-ish – ’cause we have some Fernando Llort work hanging in our Dining Room… and think everyone should be so fortunate as to experience the great things coming out of El Salvador.
“Letter #2“ from Once Was Lost – from a birth mom to the child she placed for adoption (what was supposed to be an open-adoption, but isn’t) 10 years ago.
I’ve been working on another post this week, but it turned into a short novel, so now I’m re-working it, and I promise to blog something original, soon. But school just started back up this week, so I don’t promise when I’ll just post the darned thing. But in the meantime, here are some of the reads I thought were worth sharing this week.
“Honor and Realism About Birth Countries“ by Malinda over at AdoptionTalk. This one’s actually almost a month old, but I haven’t posted links since then, so here it is. And it’s a topic Fred and I discussed regularly as we prepared to take the boys back to Guatemala last Fall… and then since then, now that they’re asking questions about what they observed while we were there.
“My Learning Curve: Giving Choices“ by OneThankfulMom at A Bushel and a Peck – a great “quick tip” on helping a child with traumatic background visualize decision-making (something that is very hard when that child is prone to self-destructive tendencies or has suffered enough that having to make a choice is a huge effort).
“What is She?” by AK at 3 Boys and Adoption. A newly-adoptive mom on the lack of tact of Read the rest of this entry
A few good reads from this week. As always, I don’t necessarily agree with all the opinions expressed but do appreciate that they were expressed and provided perspectives worth considering.
“Was it Destiny that Matched Me with My Child?” by Bonnie at Adoptive Families – pondering a common sentiment among adoptive parents that they and their children seem unexpectely well-suited to one another.
“Queing for Starfish“ at My Fascinating Life – addressing a popular metaphor used by agencies and adoptive parents… and the fact that the children most often adopted are the ones in high-demand, ones who if not adopted by one couple would be quickly adopted by another. And using the narratives of “family building” versus “giving an orphan a much-needed home.”
“Totally Worth It“ at Rage Against the Minivan – on adopting from the Foster Care System. Read the rest of this entry
A few good reads from this week. As always, I don’t necessarily agree with all the opinions expressed but do appreciate that they were expressed and provided perspectives worth considering.
“Other Mothers” from Our Little Tongginator – adoptive mom on being the 3rd mom (chronologically) in her daughter’s life.
“Adoption: When Your Kids Grow” from Welcome to my Brain – what adoption means to kids as they pass through different developmental stages and into adulthood.
“Your Child May Grow Up to be a Lot Like Me (and that’s not such an awful thing)” over at Grown in my Heart – adult adoptee Melissa on what adoptive parents need to keep in mind as their kids grow into adulthood.
“‘My Grandmother’ by Jackie Kay” – Lisa at A Birth Project reflects on growing up “other” in a white family, especially when the oldest generation still holds racist views (while not realizing that they do).
“Young Moms and Coercion in Adoption” at From the Past into the Future – hard to read, but important to be aware of, how agencies sometimes strong-arm first moms into signing away their rights (in the name of avoiding “a failed adoption”).
And because one cannot read solely about adoption all the time: Read the rest of this entry
A few good reads from this week. As always, I don’t necessarily agree with all the opinions expressed but do appreciate that they were expressed and provided perspectives worth considering.
“The Critical Difference Between Foster and Infant Adoption” by 73Adoptee. Self-explanatory by the title, and definitely worth the time to read.
“It’s Been a Year” over at My Fascinating Life – on the one-year anniversary of adopting their twins… and how different the experience was the children, versus the new parents. (I always appreciate reading parents who are able to step back and examine themselves as they may be coming across to their kids, so they get a big thumbs up from me for that!)
“Adolescents Need Families, Too…” at Perspectives on Challenged Family Building, one of their National Adoption month posts, reminding readers that there are older children and teens who desire a family (the original purpose of National Adoption Month).
“Facebook Status Updates and Infertility” by Lollipopgoldstein over at Stirrup Queens – witty, yet poignant look at how those struggling with infertility experience all the happy chatter of parents all around them. Read the rest of this entry
Spent some time learning how to fiddle with my html code (Thanks, Fred!), so THIS week’s links features my new Blog Roll, organized by category. (Lower right sidebar.)
I’ll go back to individual post-links next week. Only so many hours in the day, and I’m looking forward to regaining one with this night’s sleep! 
A few good reads from this week. As always, I don’t necessarily agree with all the opinions expressed but do appreciate that they were expressed and provided perspectives worth considering.
“The Painful Truth of ‘Better Off’” by Mei Ling at Shadow Between Two Worlds – a very honest and open expression by an adult who was internationally adopted as a child, what it’s like to juxtapose the common sentiment that she “is better off for having been adopted” with the loyalty and love she also feels for her first family.
“An example of an ethical intl. adoption and other things” on Jane’s Blog – her take, partially via a PBS interview, on the reforms she’d like to see in international adoptions.
“Tangled Web” on My Fascinating Life - a humorous anecdote about trying not to have to explain the adoption of her children to a total stranger… who just won’t drop the conversation… Read the rest of this entry
I’ve decided to start sharing some of my eclectic reading at the end of each week (well, at least for the weeks I (a) have time to read and (b) have time to post about it!), since I usually find great new things to think about from other folks’ linkage posts. New blogs to follow, some piece of news I missed, stories worth reading.
I don’t necessarily agree with every opinion linked here. But these folks have all given me something to consider, and for that I appreciate them!
Current Latin-American News Stories:
Ongoing public transportation shut-down in El Salvador, due to threatened retaliation by the gangs for the recent law passed which makes gang membership a crime: Danielle Snyder, ”No Fear;” Voices from El Salvador “Rumors Bring El Salvador to a Standstill;” Alerta Roja “Gangs of El Salvador Arranged Transport Strike for Three Days To Reject Legislation that Penalizes Them” [this last one's in Spanish, but you can pop it into a translator to read].
Read the rest of this entry