By Sharon MunroeFor the past five years I had a sense that something was different about my experience with having and raising young children. I’d talk about my age a lot, much more than any time in my life. Was that unusual? Many women stop talking about their age after 30, 35 and certainly ...

     by Iris Waichler, L.C.S.W. I recently listened to an incredible episode of the radio show This American Life.  It was the story of 2 baby girls that were switched at birth.  One mother knew nothing about it and the other mother knew but said nothing for 43 ...

  Dawn Smith-Pliner Talks to Carolyn Berger   Carolyn:  Can you give me a definition of “open adoption”?  It seems to mean different things to different people.   Dawn:  Open adoption is an adoption in which there is a relationship between the ...

After deciding to pursue domestic adoption as the way to build a  family, adoptive parents will confront the question of whether they  should try to locate their child through an adoption agency, or  independently, without the assistance of an adoption agency....

By Carolyn Berger, LCSW  When my biological son, Zach, was born I remember looking at him and thinking how he didn’t look anything like I’d imagined.  With his dark wavy hair and olive skin he looked very different from the pink baby with just a touch of blond hair that I ...

     By Iris Waichler, L.C.S.W.                                      ...

By Susan Orban While rewarding for children and families, inter-country adoption also has its challenges. For the adoptive family, each country has its own set of eligibility requirements, timelines, policies and procedures – and all are subject to change and change they have!  ...

by Dawn Smith-Pliner Awestruck by the birth of her first grandbaby, one grandmother was shocked when she realized her tears were not those of joy, but of sadness.  Realizing her grandbaby looked nothing like her brought back all of the struggles of her own infertility. Like lightening ...

by Carolyn Berger, L.C.S.W. Stories about couples readying themselves for their adoption home study are legion. Couples have been known to repaint their apartments, scrub between the bathroom tiles with an old toothbrush, and make sure there are cookies baking in the oven when the social ...

  by Iris Waichler, L.C.S.W.             A close friend and I were talking about something that affects many of us who have experienced infertility.  She has moved from infertility into adoption.  There have been some calls about babies ...