Blog Posts & Articles
I’ve been writing articles and blog posts here since 2007. See most recent or most popular posts below, or use this search box. Can’t find what you’re looking for? Ask me. I’m happy to help.
Recent Articles
Dear California Legislators: 3 Reasons to Vote for Adoptee Rights
When it comes to adoptees and their original birth certificates, California legislators should vote on the side of adoptee rights. Here’s why.
National Adoption Month May Not Mean What You Think It Means
If you think National Adoption Awareness Month exists solely to celebrate adoption, you are not fully informed (and if you love an adoptee, you need to be).
Families for Children…or Vice Versa?
Families for children: Should the sacred cow that is the Adoption Tax Credit keep mooing—or be put out to pasture? Part 3 of 3.
The Adoption Tax Credit & the Adoption Industry
What are the actual effects of the Adoption Tax Credit on the affordability of infant adoption and on the adoption industry? Part 2 of 3.
Open Adoption Advice for Tricky Situations
Open Adoption is HARD (but worth it)
So many parents I’ve talked with are committed to openness in adoption because they understand how evolving from an Either/Or mindset to a BothAnd* heartset better serves everyone involved.
Regular old parenting can get tough, but add in emotionally-charged elements around adoption and things can get really hairy. No parenting guide can give all the answers, but once you know how to set your parenting GPS you’ll know how to find answers right for you in a particular situation.
* To emphasize the integrating of BothAnd, I deliberately do not use a hyphen.
Open Adoption Grid: Adding a Dimension to the Open Adoption Spectrum
Update 2021 Angela Tucker, Katie Biron, Kara Andersen, and I created this 3-minute animated explainer video under the auspices of Amara for the information below
The Future of Adoption
Reader Question: What is the future of adoption regarding openness? We’ve moved from completely closed adoptions to semi-open (pictures and letters sent through the agency,
To the Woman Who Longs to Be a Mom and Wants a Closed Adoption
I hear you when you say “I want a closed adoption.” I was there, too, and I had to unlearn a few things everyone “knows” about adoption.
Reader Favorites
A digest of readers’ (and my own!) favorite essays. Pull up a post and stay awhile.
Vignettes
Double Feature
Date Night Mishaps
The night my house broke up with me
A night with toddlers locked in my own personal panic room.
*thisclose*
My near-death experience, which went unnoticed by everyone else.
Judgy McJudgerson
A woman at a street festival bugs the crap out of me in a 3-part saga. Judgy much?
Love & Family
Mom badge
I earned it. Holy crap, did I earn it.
My one-and-only pregnancy photo
Paulie, me and Sunny D. Funny (in a take-back-the-infertility kind of way) because I was never really pregnant.
Family of origin of the species
This explains a lot.
Grant Us Peace
3 part harmony with my sisters