2016

The very act of giving birth creates a mother even if legal paperwork or extenuating circumstances leave her unable to parent.

A Birthmothers Life, Cultural Views on Adoption December 30, 2016

Universal Motherhood

There is not a “birthmother” gene. There is not a nerve that is cut. There is not a build up around her heart. She will give birth like every other mother has before her and every mother after. The very act of giving birth creates a mother even if legal paperwork or extenuating circumstances leave her unable to parent. There are no lines separating us here, no boundaries, no differences in race, country, or in time. There are no lines, either, separating a “normal” birth process from one that ends up as an adoption. One cannot just turn off those bonding hormones no matter what legal paperwork might be later signed.

Reunions & Support November 15, 2016

(Birth) Moms ~ Search for Your (adult) Child!

By Susie from: Wild Women Sisterhood FULL MOON PRAYER by Rumi What in your life is Calling you, When all the noise is silenced, The meetings adjourned.. The lists laid aside, And the Wild Iris blooms By itself In the dark forest… What still pulls on your Soul? Are you a mother who lost a child to adoption? Does your (now adult) child call out to your soul? Are you…

Surviving Adopted September 14, 2016

Letter to Indiana Legislators in Support of SB91

By Laura Marie Scoggins I am writing to encourage your support of Senate Bill 91 which will allow ALL Hoosier Adoptees equal access to their original birth certificates. Pre 1994 adoptees deserve the same access as post 1994 adoptees. One of the most common questions adoptees are asked when they tell people they are searching for their biological family or have been reunited is “why would you even want to…

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Mirah Riben on Huffington Post June 27, 2016

Adoption-Related Trauma and Moral Injury

By Mirah Riben When most people think of adoption, they think of the joy of a child in need being welcomed with open arms by those who longed for a child. Like a fairy tale! And when we think of trauma, we think of losing limbs, or eyesight. We think of war … Read at the Source: : Mirah Riben on the Huffington Post       

Open Adoption Stories June 21, 2016

What My Adoptive Mom Could Have Done Differently Or Better

I often give my opinion of open adoption and the resulting question from hopeful adoptive parents or adoptive parents is: What could your Amom have done to be better or make your adoption better for you? I really wish that people would take time to read, not only my blog, but as many adoptee blogs as possible, but often, people just want their question answered as quickly as possible. This…

Adoptee Rights, Adoption News, Pending Adoption Legislation June 10, 2016

New York and Adoptee Rights

Getting Screwed Over in NY 2016 Version Greetings from my backyard. Today I am wearing my Constitutional Tramplers T shirt in honor of the New York State legislators who seemed compelled to ignore all their constituents, facts and logic in order to pass some perverted version of a “AdoptionLand; shut the fuck up” bill and dares to say it is Adoptee Rights. This thing, the self admitted “half a loaf”…

Before Making an Adoption Plan, Birthmother Regrets & Lessons, Finding Christopher Finding Myself April 13, 2016

If I Knew Then…

By Susie More thoughts from the American Adoption Congress Conference: After I had agreed with Suz to participate in her “Mitigating and Managing Collateral Damage: Impact of Adoption on the 1st Family” presentation, I thought of many examples of the collateral damage in my life. When it came to the “managing and mitigating” part, the only thing I could come up with was to not lose a child to adoption…

when the thought of your adopted child finding you freaks you out.

Reunions & Support April 7, 2016

For the Birth Mother Who Doesn’t Want Contact with her Adopted Child

You are a mother. This is your child. You do owe them and they have a right to truth, reality and to know the person who gave them life. Yes, a right, I said that. The adoptee has a RIGHT to know where they come from. No adoptee should not have to be a banned as a dirty little secret their whole life. No one should have to have their very existence denied to protect another’s feelings, even their own mothers.

Adoption Events, Finding Christopher Finding Myself April 6, 2016

American Adoption Congress Conference 2016

By Susie After attending AAC 2016, I have too much to write about to fit it all in one post. Here is a summary of the experience, more to come in the following days: The Week of Firsts I attended my first ever “real life” adoption event ~ the AAC 2016 Conference. I traveled alone for the first time, which I surprisingly actually enjoyed. I was a presenter on a…

MORE Family Preservation & LESS Adoption Separation

Adoption Truth, Mirah Riben on Huffington Post April 5, 2016

Family Preservation

By Mirah Riben If your neighbor lost his job a year after his wife died, and he had three small kids, would you “help” him by taking away his kids? If a family in your church or congregation’s house burnt down and they had no family to stay with, would you help them by adopting their infant child? Recently, Ronnie Stewart a Florida minister of the Refuge Church of New…

Adoption Truth, Mirah Riben on Huffington Post, Pending Adoption Legislation March 30, 2016

A Mother’s Love: Creating Gracie’s Bill

By Mirah Riben A mother’s love, loss and determination has greatly impacted social awareness and created organizations such as MADD, founded by Cindy Lightner, and the well-known Amber Alert system, which Donna Norris created. The power of another mother’s love also created the Make a Wish Foundation. All of these women, and others such as the parents in Sandy Hook, turned the loss of their children into a passion-driven effort…

A Father's Right, Adoption News, Cultural Views on Adoption, Mirah Riben on Huffington Post, More Adoption Blogs from Adoption Bloggers March 25, 2016

The Drama and Facts in the Battle Over Little Lexi

By Mirah Riben Most of us have heard, seen or read about a six-year-old girl named Lexi who was ordered to be taken from those who fostered her for the past four years in Santa Clarita, California. The court of public opinion and social media are sympathetic and supportive of Lexi’s foster parents, Rusty and Summer Page. This is very understandable since the Pages have seemingly done nothing but provide…