adoption tips - Life on the Road Less Traveled

March 6, 2008

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Grace in the Nick of Time

Today I had a difficult chat with the mother of a little boy who had been visiting with us last weekend. Long story short, I alerted her to some “acting out” that I had observed, and reported a conversation I’d had with my son about his friend that sounded to me as though his friend might be being abused by an older child or adult. I told my story, and the mother (with me still on the phone) turned to her son and asked him what happened. His story did not match mine, so she shrugged and thanked me, clearly taking her son’s version over […]

January 14, 2008

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Blessed Mother Teresa: A Heart for the Poor

In a previous post, I began my review of Come Be My Light, observing that Blessed Mother Teresa had (still does, undoubtedly) many virtues that adoptive and foster parents need to cultivate in their own lives. The first, and most obvious, is a deep-seated desire to serve the poor and powerless (or at least a specific child who needs a family). This desire is not grounded in how cute, or quiet, or grateful the child might be, but in a sense of calling. This was the “call within a call” that Blessed Mother Teresa pursued relentlessly: to bring souls to Jesus, and bring Jesus to […]

January 11, 2008

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adoption tips

Story Time!

Come see the Carnival! Catholic Carnival #155 has now been posted here. Thanks to Deo Omnis Gloria for “posting in the wilderness.” The other day Lisa sent me a request from an adoptive mother, who wanted to buy a book to help her tell her adopted child how he entered their family. I found some good pointers for parents at this site, which includes a number of books for children and adults. My personal favorite is Max Lucado’s You Are Special (left, see “Resources”), which is great for all children. To be honest, I haven’t spent much time researching this particular area of adoption for […]

December 17, 2007

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Adoptive Family Planning: A Wise Choice

Today on the adoptive parent channel of “Café Mom,” a story was posted about an adoption gone terribly, horribly wrong: A Dutch couple living in Hong Kong, who had adopted a South Korean infant, decided to “return” the little girl (now seven years old) to the orphanage where they had found her. Claiming that the little girl had not adapted well to their culture, they decided to “return” the little girl soon after her mother became pregnant (they had been told she could not conceive). Reading the story, I was reminded that people with limited adoption experience tend to paint both the adoption process and […]

November 20, 2007

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Family We Don’t Get to Pick

If you enjoy this post, check out more quality Catholic reading at the Catholic Carnival #147, hosted this week by our fearless facilitator Jay at “Living Catholicism.com.” The other day I talked with Maureen, whose granddaughter “Janie” – her son’s child – was a ward in another state. Little Janie has two half-siblings (by a different father) who were also in the system, and were about to be adopted by a gay couple. Because the older children were unrelated to her, Maureen wanted to adopt only Janie. Maureen was upset because the agency had recommended to the family court judge that Janie be placed with […]