If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
"Sex, when you're dealing with infertility, is not great. My husband and I took a Jay-Z approach to the situation: We had 99 problems, but sex wasn't one of them."
I was adopted as an infant, during a time when adoption was still shrouded in secrecy. My experience is not unique, but it is important. Here are ten of the ten thousand things adoptees want the world to know.
Armed with inspiration from Dan Savage's groundbreaking book, my partner Don and I finally mustered the courage to start our own adoption journey. Now, years later, I've chronicled that journey in my own book. Therein lay the extent of my connection to Savage -- or so I thought.
In 2005, my wife, Amy, and I adopted three children from Russia. As we were wrapping up those adoptions, we saw a document indicating that our new daughters had older siblings. It took us another year and a half to locate them, but they are now part of our family of eleven, too.
It's important to send a message to the Russian government that allowing Americans to rescue children from their abysmal orphanages should continue unabated.
Who in his or her right mind thought that the former KGB agent and president of Russia would simply accept our rebuke without response, or that the response would not be designed to make a point?
I have two children from Russia. I have a special place in my heart for Russia and want my children to also have that special place in their hearts. At the same time, I do not understand how the children who are in orphanages should really be pawns in political games.
For those of us fortunate to have adopted internationally, especially from Russia -- my ancestor's homeland -- the headlines are maddening and saddening. I am especially struck as I think back to the adoption of my two youngest, from Russia, and the undeniable obstacles we endured.
More highly educated, younger and more urban voters tend to feel differently, and the Orthodox Church and some liberal critics of Putin's have spoken out against this bill, which disproportionately hurts Russian children.
While selecting the method of expanding one's family is a personal and sensitive matter, the relative affordability of alternative reproductive technology -- due to the recent strides in creativity -- gives the adoption process a run for its money.
This month, the U.S. Senate passed two pieces of legislation aimed at helping children, particularly those who have been adopted and those who are waiting to be connected with permanent families of their own.
Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt make it look easy. They adopt kids from all corners of the world and the media broadcasts images of perfect Kodak moments. They'd have you believing families bond and blend instantaneously. They don't. Not always.
The Heart Gallery is an exhibit of photos featuring LA foster youth that highlights the need to find adoptive families for waiting children. As someone who spent more than a year in foster care, at first I felt conflicted about the concept of taking pictures of foster kids for public display.
Social media, search engines, blogs, and an array of other modern communications tools, all facilitated by the Internet, are transforming adoption practices and challenging laws and policies.
All I could say was, "Hi." I didn't know what else to say. I wasn't even sure what to call him; it was too soon to call him "Dad," too disrespectful and impersonal to call him "Jack."
Would you like to know what the world's fastest-growing and largest live-streaming platform has in common with an owlet, crazy cats, shiba puppies, squirrels, elephants, schnauzers and over 500 Aids orphans in Zimbabwe?
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