Welcome Adopting Parents!

The relationship between a single woman and her adoption attorney is vital. This person can and should be your strongest ally for finding the placement that works -- and making sure the adoption is finalized in a timely way. This advice was posted to the Choice Mom discussion board by Holly, a wonderful resource for Choice Moms who use the foster care adoption route in particular.

If you're thinking of adopting transracially, or are heading a transracial family, listen here for insight. The experts we assembled at a recent Choice Moms event included two Choice Moms who were raised in transracial families, a woman who parented a young woman from a refugee camp, a representative from Children's Home Society, and several Choice Moms who are raising a transracial family.

submitted by WarnerMom
One woman's search for her child, weaving through many non-traditional options.

Dawn Davenport at Creating a Family had a great radio show about the bumps that can occur after adoption.

There are several great options for creating your own storybooks for your adopted or donor conceived child. Here are some of them.

This is an excellent response by my colleague Dawn Davenport to someone who was concerned about the level of affection her adopted child's foster family was feeling toward him.

Thanks to the CreatingaFamily.org website for alerting me to this great Newsweek article about international adoption, from the grown child's perspective.

There are three things Choice Moms report in hindsight are their biggest regrets. What do you think they are?

This is the start of a growing list to come about the adoption process:

One of my favorite resources for adopting parents is CreatingaFamily.com, run by Dawn Davenport. Like me, she's developed a comprehensive resource for her community as a labor of love. She also has wonderful content for women experiencing fertility challenges. Here is some of her website content:

There are some creative and practical methods to adoption, even for today's single. Listen to this insight from single women who have adopted.

A report by Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute, titled "BEYOND CULTURE CAMP: PROMOTING HEALTHY IDENTITY FORMATION IN ADOPTION," was released in November 2009. It is the most extensive examination of adult adoptive identity to date, based on reports from adults who were adopted as children.

Dawn Davenport at Creating a Family is the source I trust for up-to-date adoption information. Here is some of what she's compiled about the various costs of adoption.

I've talked with a few professional single black women who have admitted feeling almost reluctant to take this step because of the long-standing stigma about single black parenting.

If you are considering building a transracial family, ask yourself these questions (as prepared by Children's Home Society and Family Services):

A woman on the discussion board asked whether she would be capable of raising an African-American child, as a white woman. Here is one of the many great responses she got from Julia, whose child was adopted from Ethiopia, responded differently:

submitted by Choice Mom Kari
When I first learned that adoptive moms can breastfeed, as I was waiting to adopt, I presumed that these must be women who previously had biological children. Instead I found out that you can produce milk even if you have never been pregnant (men can actually produce milk too!). Breastfeeding has so many wonderful benefits, but the bonding and nutrition were the two that made me decide that I wanted to try it.