Were you adopted?
Are you an adoptive parent?
Are you thinking of adopting, but aren’t sure?
Do you work with families grown by adoption?
Are you a first parent who placed their child with another family?
I would luh-luh-love for you to share your adoption story here on our blog. The only thing I ask is that you be honest and transparent about your experiences. My hope is that this will be a resource for others who are beginning the adoption journey. When we first began down this path, it was difficult to find honest answers and so I’ve become passionate about them!
If you need help narrowing down a topic, here are a few suggestions:
Choosing an adoption agency; What was the process like and how was your communication with your agency over the course of your adoption?
Choosing what kind of adoption to pursue; Foster Care, Foster to Adopt, International, Domestic, Closed or Open?
Open vs Closed Adoption; How did your expectations change? How has your family managed the boundaries and expectations?
Waiting; How did you get through the “waiting periods” of your process?
If you could share one piece of advice with families who are either considering adoption or waiting parents, what would it be?
There’s a few prompts to get you started. Please contact me, either on facebook or through email at erin(dot)beth(dot)reich(at)gmail(dot)com to guest post on A Peculiar Love.
Thank you!
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3 Comments
Hey, just leaving my blog address to share my story. Don’t know if I will try this route again or not, definitely still healing. Wishing you guys all the best. Keep faith and have courage.
Oh…my story is not an encouraging one for PAPs. Since my last stop here, and after writing and processing more of what happened, I can say with certainty that I will not try to adopt again. And it is bc there is just too much coercion in the adoption industry and too much pain and trauma involved for all parties. That being said, there are some babies who really do need homes (my best friend was adopted out of an orphanage here in the US at about age 5)–but please make sure you do all your homework and find ethical adoption workers. We were naive and didn’t know much at all. I recommend reading the blog called The Declassified Adoptee–it is smart, well-rounded, and offers a broad amount of info pertaining to adoption.
All the best,
Jennifer
Jennifer,
I am so sorry that your experience has been so painful- truly I am. And I agree, even in the best possible situation, adoption is painful- period. I also agree that there is a lot of coercion in the adoption industry and it has been a great fear of mine this whole journey that we would end up in a situation where there was just too much unknown for us to be comfortable. Because we are right in the thick of it at the moment, I haven’t blogged about what is happening with our adoption. Partially because of time and partially because I haven’t been able to process everything into words for the world. I appreciate you reading and coming back to update me; I will get caught up on your blog very soon. I also have the Declassified Adoptee on my list to check out. I understand if you do not want to try and adopt again. But, for us- this is the right choice. We have been educating ourselves for years and have surrounded ourselves with some knowledgeable, honest professionals. It’s very unfortunate that you have had such a terrible experience because, as you said, there are many children who do need a loving family- who need to be adopted. I hate that this experience has turned you off from trying again- although I do understand why it has.