I often forget we work at an orphanage. After all, we call it a foster home.  And, if you go there during the daytime hours, the place is buzzing with so much activity that one has no time to think about the fact that all of the children are orphans.  Compared to most orphanages, the place is paradise!...

Two steps and a knock from my front door, and I’m in an orphanage.  We don’t call it an orphanage, but a rose by any other name is still a rose.  No matter what we call it, Mommy and Daddy don’t come home at night. She’s eight.  Sometime in February 2009, she lost everything. ...

I have to admit that this is my absolute favorite adoption book on the market. Borya and the Burps: An Eastern European Adoption Story could have been drawn from pictures of the three of us the day we went to meet AJ for the very first time so it holds a special place in my heart . Borya and the Burps:...

Since adopting AJ we have been dealing with symptoms of Institutional Autism, something that the Autism community thinks is a quack theory but an illness and diagnosis that we know to be very real. We know that AJ had a very traumatic life in the orphanage but we don’t know why. Sometimes, we...

This is about adoption, I swear.  It’s a conceptual piece, roll with it. Pat fell right out of the berth and onto the floor, the same as every morning.  The hard floor and constant motion took away any bit of escape that sleep had afforded her.  She crawled into the tiny bathroom, there was...

Babies from birth to six months in Chinese Social Welfare Institutes (SWIs) typically solely eat Chinese baby formula which has high sugar levels and therefore tastes sweeter than American formula.  Unfortunately, it contains little protein and lower calories than American formula.  In...

Recently there has been a lot of talk in the adoption community about prospective parents receiving referrals (or being matched with a child) that are “less than perfect.” Chafe at that term being applied to human beings? Me too. I think most of us who have adopted, particularly kids with some...

The first time I saw this I was so saddened that it was all I thought about all day. The images flooded my mind when I lay my head down to sleep. Some, It makes me think that AJ was one of the lucky ones to be placed in the orphanage. When you watch you will see that so many of the children are actually...

What happens to a child who grows up with virtually no parenting, love, affection or human touch? “Nearly everything we learn about being human—how to speak, how to walk, everything—comes from the people who raise us,” Oprah says. “Today, we’re going to look at what happens...

Twice this week I had the opportunity to be in the room when an adoptive family met their new child for the first time.  It’s a beautiful moment from the perspective of the new mom and dad.  But if you watch through the eyes of the foster mother, it’s heart-wrenching.  She carefully answered...