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
My three girls take turns being the squeaky wheel, and my focus on each girl waxes and wanes. What never wavers is my love. Whether flesh of my flesh or soul of my soul, I love each daughter as a whole.
In the moments of their adoption -- like the moment of Jenna's baby's conception -- a split was created in our children between their biology and their biography. Being open about our children's origins is an effective way to heal this split and help them integrate their identities.
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 twenty-third post of "30 Adoption Portraits in 30 Days," a series designed to give a voice to people with widely varying experiences, incl...
This is the twenty-second post of "30 Adoption Portraits in 30 Days," a series designed to give a voice to people with widely varying experiences, inc...
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 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...
My professional goal is working towards solving conflict on a national and global scale, yet I have an enormous amount of unresolved conflict within myself.
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...
The Internet, through online databases & social media, has rendered closed adoptions virtually extinct. There are still surprises, though, as Andrew C...
When Carrie Goldman, parenting expert and author of "Bullied", joined me on Mondays With Marlo, we spoke about how open adoption works. Carrie's daugh...
If nearly all domestic adoptions of infants are some degree of "open", isn't it time to make that the norm when it comes to sperm and egg donation, too?
NEW YORK -- The secrecy that long shrouded adoption has given way to openness, and only about 5 percent of infant adoptions in the U.S. now take place...
There's another voice you must add to 16 & Pregnant: That of the 16 year-old girl who is pregnant and chooses to have an abortion.
When I think about adoption, I imagine it's changed -- opened up -- in part because legal abortion exists. Adoption can be a more freely chosen option than it was during those back alley days.
Living with a secret is psychologically destructive -- that concept was nearly an anthem for Annette Baran, a clinical social worker and psychotherapi...
