adoption, foster care, and autism
Adaptation. It can take a long time for humans and animals to adapt to a new situation or new lifestyle. However, many adopted and foster children who come from traumatic backgrounds adapt very quickly to new surroundings. This is also true for some children who are adopted when they’re infants. Even after healing took place…
Read MoreAdopting and doing foster care can be lonely in the world-at-large. Very few people know what it’s like to adopt, they don’t know about bonding or attachment issues, they don’t know about specific behaviors adopted children can have and why, they don’t understand your concerns as an adoptive parent. Even fewer people know what it’s…
Read MoreOne of the first questions foster and adoptive parents have is: Which agency do I use? (If you are interested in a child who is available for adoption through the foster system, please don’t miss the end of this post.) When doing foster care or adopting from foster care, you can use your local DHS (Department…
Read MoreLast week I shared what fun has been going on here. After sharing this with a friend, she said, “It’s not what you signed up for is it?” (A little background if you haven’t been around for long: Justin and I adopted two children from foster care, Payton is seven, and Jeremiah has non-verbal autism…
Read MoreAmerican’s don’t think orphanages exist in the USA, I mean in 2015 how could they? Sadly there are orphanages in America, they’re simply called “group homes.” Children in Arizona are being placed in group homes because there aren’t enough foster homes or kinship placement options. Maricopa County is only one county in the U.S. that’s…
Read MoreEveryone has their opinions of why people adopt or foster. Some wrong, some right. Family and friends have assumed why we adopted. Why we wanted to adopt from China, why we adopted from foster care, and maybe part of me wants to set the record straight, but a larger part of me knows adoptive parents…
Read MoreParents know what it’s like, the questions and requests from teachers for baby photos, information for family trees, and questions about moms. A teachers job is hard, really hard. It’s even more difficult as class sizes grow. To remember the backgrounds of every child is difficult, but I think there should be a general understanding…
Read MoreWhat’s in a name? If you really ponder it, there’s a heck of a lot, especially for someone who’s owned their name for a while. I think this is what we have to realize as adoptive and foster parents, our child owns their name, it’s theirs, it’s the ONE THING they didn’t have to give…
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“Desi cries every time we’re in the car, no matter what I do she won’t stop,” Jason complained to his friend. “Oh, don’t worry, she’ll grow out of it, Zavier did that when he was young too,” replied Zack. As parents of hurting children we hear this often, far too often. Our friends and family…
Read MoreEveryone has opinions, and when you adopt or foster, you get ideas on how you should raise your kids from every which way. Birth mothers want to be called “mom,” or “mother,” but you want to refer to her as “birth mom.” Your son would like to call her, “tummy mommy,” but his birth mom…
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lovin' adoptin' & autism 