This is the fourth post in a series that examines the book, Two Little Girls: A Memoir of Adoption, by Theresa Reid

There is choice in adoption. When you receive a referral for a child or hear the news that a pregnant woman is interested in getting to know you, you’re faced with making a choice: Do I accept the referral or do I turn it down?

Theresa Reid recounts the first time she was faced with making this choice:

Arlene [their case... more

This is the third post in a series that examines the book, Two Little Girls: A Memoir of Adoption, by Theresa Reid

I’m always intrigued when people choose to adopt internationally mainly because they’re scared of interacting with their child’s birth parents. We have a domestic open adoption in which we consider our sons’ birth families members of our extended family (and vice versa).

In our case, there’s nothing to be scared of. The presence of our sons’ birth families... more

This is the second post in a series that examines the book, Two Little Girls: A Memoir of Adoption, by Theresa Reid

These days, when people say they want to adopt a healthy infant, they receive dirty looks from some in the adoption community. “Why not adopt one of the hundreds of thousands of children waiting in foster care?” people ask. “Why not adopt one of the millions or orphans from around the world?”

If you want to adopt a healthy infant, some insinuate that... more

When Mark Schultz wrote the song "Everything to Me," the story of a young mother choosing to place her newborn baby into the care of an adoptive family, he had more than just a pro-life sentiment in mind.

He had his life in mind. Because that young mother was his mom.

The song, which appears on Schultz's new album, Broken & Beautiful, has opened the door for the singer/songwriter... more

Part 1 of 5

I enjoy reading adoption memoirs because they’re a nice break from the “how-to adopt” books that rehash the same material and the anthologies that contain heartwarming, yet sanitized glimpses into the lives of adoptive families.

Memoirs, too, often follow the same predictable formula: infertile-couple-wants-baby-journeys-to-X-country-brings-home-baby-lives-happily-ever-after. But once in a while, a memoir wows me. Theresa Reid’s Two... more

I’m going underground for the next few weeks so I won’t be blogging as regularly as usual. I have one chapter left to write in my book, “What’s So Great About Adoption,” and then I’ll make revisions.

My husband made me a nifty little chart so I can visually track how many words I’ve written and how many I have left to write (only 7,075 words to go!). It’s a good motivator for me. Since I’m used to writing 1,000-word magazine articles, writing a 65,000-word book is somewhat daunting. Watching... more

Part 5 in a 5-part series

Now that the school year is in swing, teachers will soon be assigning the “discovering your roots” activity (my eighth grade son brought his home last week).

In Jaiya John’s memoir, Black Baby White Hands, he recounts a fifth grade assignment in which his teacher laid out a large map of the world on the classroom floor and instructed the... more

Part 4 in a 5-part series

In Black Baby White Hands, Jaiya John describes the special relationship he and his sister, Kristin, had growing up (Jaiya was a black adopted child; Kristin was a white birth child). Jaiya and Kristin went through school in the same grade, but they only had one class together during their entire schooling. They saw each other during recess, at... more

Part 3 in a 5-part series

Continued from the previous post

In Beyond Good Intentions: A Mother Reflects on Raising Internationally Adopted Children, Cheri Register touches on many of the same subjects as Jaiya John does in ... more

Part 2 in a 5-part series

“It must have taken a significant effort on (my parents’) part to avoid thinking about and addressing something so radiantly obvious as the Blackness of two of their children in a family, town, and nation dominated by Whiteness.”

In Black Baby White Hands, Jaiya John looks back on his childhood as a black boy being raised by white adoptive parents.... more