February 28, 2009

Family You Don’t Get to Pick

What does it take for an adoptive triad to form a successfully integrated family unit? Is it even possible? I have one friend, who is both a birth mother and an adoptee, who has the gift of a truly integrated extended family. However, I can also point to six other triads I know personally that have not been able to manage this for a variety of reasons, from lack of information about birth parents, to unwillingess of birth parent to have contact, to addiction or mental/emotional stability issues making it impossible to sustain contact. What do you think are the keys to building a healthy (and, hopefully, happy) integrated family?
February 18, 2009

Mandatory Release vs. Mutual Consent: New Report from NCA

Today I received a link to this recent report from the National Council for Adoption, refuting the findings of the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute with regard to open records, in particular the notion that adult adopted persons should have automatic access to the identities of their birthparents. This is a difficult — and hotly debated — issue.   I’ve touched upon the subject here and elsewhere in the past, and have no desire to rehash the arguments at this time (those who are unfamiliar with the arguments in favor of mandatory open records will find them summarized nicely in this report).  However, there was one […]