I never tire of hearing people’s adoption stories. Whenever I meet someone who has a connection to adoption, I sense an instant camaraderie. We mutually share and enjoy one another’s stories, similar to the manner in which women share their tales of pregnancy and childbirth.

The best part is that we don’t have to explain things to one another. Among those who have traveled the adoption path, there’s an implicit understanding and empathy, even though every adoption story is as unique as the people who experience it. For those of us who are Christians, our adoption story is intricately melded with our faith journey.

Call for adoption stories

Please e-mail me your adoption story (christianadoptionblog@adoptionmail.com) so I can consider it for inclusion on this blog. Whether you’re just beginning the adoption process or are a seasoned adoptive parent, birth parent or adopted person, I’d love to hear your story or a little snippet from your story (because adoption is an ongoing story, isn’t it?). I’m particularly interested in learning how your faith is impacting you in relation to adoption.

Where can I find people with a connection to adoption?
You may imagine that you’re the only one in your church or community who’s considering adoption. I’ll bet you’re not. If you start asking around, you’re bound to find someone. Here are several things to try:

Call local or regional adoption agencies and ask them to get you in touch with others who are contemplating adoption.

Contact the American Academy of Adoption Attorneys. They provide a state-by-state contact list of attorneys who specialize in adoption law.

Contact your local Department of Health and Human Services and ask for the Adoption division. They can help you locate other resources in your community.

Visit the local library. Make friends with the reference librarian and see what he or she can help you dig up.

Contact your pastor. Understand that he or she may not be experienced with adoption, but chances are, your clergyperson can refer you to someone who is.

Contact local mental health professionals. Some of them specialize in adoption issues or in grief and loss issues.

Contact your local medical professional. Your doctor will most likely know of several people who have experienced adoption.

If you exhaust your local resources and you still can’t find someone with a direct connection to adoption, turn to the Internet (obviously, you’re already doing that since you’re reading this blog!). We’ll talk more about Internet resources for adoption in later posts, but the Internet has some wonderful Christian discussion groups for all those touched by adoption.

What local resources do you recommend consulting? Let’s get some conversation going. Please add your suggestions in the Comments box.