I was stuck in an either/or mindset. Either they were the mothers of these children or I was. Either they had a real connection or I did. Either they were legitimate or I was. Because the influence of
When Mom presented me with the orchid corsage, it was as foreign as a lacrosse stick. Or a set of knitting needles. "But I'm not a--" "You gave birth to your daughter," my mom explained. "That makes you a mother."
There are five little names on a chain around my neck. Three of those names belong to the babies I bore biologically, and two of those little names are babies I got to raise for a short time and then let them go.
Patti Callahan Henry has written many successful and enjoyable novels in the past but never has she written one as personal as her latest, And Then I Found You.
As our country has focused enormous attention in recent days on the rights of one minority, gay men and lesbians, we continue (alas) to give short-shrift to the decades-long effort to achieve equality for millions of people in another segment of our population: Americans who were adopted into their families.
This is the twenty-seventh post of "30 Adoption Portraits in 30 Days," a series designed to give a voice to people with widely varying experiences, in...
This is the eighteenth post of "30 Adoption Portraits in 30 Days," a series designed to give a voice to people with widely varying experiences, includ...
This is the seventeenth post of "30 Adoption Portraits in 30 Days," a series designed to give a voice to people with widely varying experiences, inclu...
This is the sixteenth post of "30 Adoption Portraits in 30 Days," a series designed to give a voice to people with widely varying experiences, includi...
This is the fifteenth post of "30 Adoption Portraits in 30 Days," a series designed to give a voice to people with widely varying experiences, includi...
This is the fourteenth post of "30 Adoption Portraits in 30 Days," a series designed to give a voice to people with widely varying experiences, includ...
This is the thirteenth post of "30 Adoption Portraits in 30 Days," a series designed to give a voice to people with widely varying experiences, includ...
This is the eleventh post of "30 Adoption Portraits in 30 Days," a series designed to give a voice to people with widely varying experiences, includin...
This is the tenth post of "30 Adoption Portraits in 30 Days," a series designed to give a voice to people with widely varying experiences, including b...
This is the eighth post of "30 Adoption Portraits in 30 Days," a series designed to give a voice to people with widely varying experiences, including ...
This is the seventh post of "30 Adoption Portraits in 30 Days," a series designed to give a voice to people with widely varying experiences, including...
Abby Huntsman hosted a discussion on HuffPost Live to discuss what adoptive parents can do to regain some of their rights and privacy in the age of th...
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.
When I have moments of doubt, I remember the three little faces turned toward me as if I am their sun and I ask myself, "How will my words and my facial expressions affect them?"
You could say Bessie Sedor's reunion with her daughter after 67 years is the icing on the cake. Every year, Sedor would bake a cake on Aug. 3 to secre...
I am thrilled to report that our visit could not have gone better -- and that Sophie got her answers. But what the trip gave me may have even upstaged that...
The time has come to pull back and stop allowing my family to be the target of what can be a society of voyeurs
I have come to know that it is not only my responsibility to be present for my child, whatever shape the need at hand takes, but it is also my honor.
NBC Today interviewed a family who found their adopted daughter's birth mother on Facebook. As Jessi Zachtel grew up, she found herself increasingly...
Every human being on the planet comes through the womb of a mother. To force a mother to choose between keeping her offspring or losing acceptance by the culture is to force her to split in half and as a result, to collapse.
