March 2009 International Adoption Update

Russia

Togo

India

Ethiopia

A Classic Way To Capture Your Adoption Story

Since I began our adoption journey, I knew that one day I would turn our daughter’s story into a book for her to keep forever. To help explain her story and reflect on the excitement we felt as we waited to meet her. Yesterday I received our hardback, image wrapped book in the mail and I am so happy with it! We used Blurb to create our book. It was so quick and easy and the final product is very clean lined and professional. The prices are reasonable and we plan to order a 2nd copy to keep for ourselves as the first copy will be given to our daughter for her to keep forever. If you are looking for a special gift, a way to make someone feel extra special or to publish your own book, I highly recommend using Blurb. I was able to upload every post and photo from my blog into their software and then design my own layout, text, colors and fonts. If anyone has ever used Blurb, please leave a comment and share your experience!

Financial Risk in Domestic Adoption

Often times when an adoptive parent or couple is adopting domestically, there is great financial risk. Should you be matched with a child and proceed to pay the necessary fees, usually 10K or more your mind and heart wait anxiously for the bio-mom to continue with the adoption. However, there are those instances when the bio-mom decides to parent her child and you are left with no child and no money. Your money is gone and your heart is hurting. 

American Adoptions announced a new program for 2009 that helps to limit the financial risk for adoptive parents who find themselves in this situation. Click here to read about it. The goal is to protect adoptive parents from loosing any money for items such as living expenses and medical expenses should the bio-mom change her mind. From the research that I have done, I have found that this program claims to refund all money in the case of a failed placement. The program is for the placement of African American and biracial babies and the wait is approximately 0-6 months. Like always, I encourage you to do your own research to verify that this information is correct.