Telling Your Child that He or She is Adopted At some point, your child may look in the mirror and conclude that he/she doesn’t look anything like you or your spouse, and come to you with the question “why”? If that happens, you have waited too long to disclose to them that they are adopted. […]

The Don’ts of Being an Adoptive Parent When you have adopted a child, whether as an infant, toddler or teenager, whether domestically or internationally, whether through an open or closed process, the joy you experience can lead you to engage in some behaviors that may be detrimental to your adopted child or to your relationship […]

Supreme Court Decision Regarding Same Sex Marriage The recent decision of the Supreme Court of the United States establishing that same sex couples have a constitutionally protected right to marry has a direct and beneficial effect on children. Specifically, the decision recognizes the dignity of all families and provides for the protection of children who […]

How to Work Most Effectively with Prospective Birthparents When you adopt a child from a foreign country, in addition to the legal issues specifically related to making the child a member of your family, you may also be required to “re-adopt” the child once you return to the United States. Whether or not you must […]

Foster Children Struggle to Find Academic Opportunity In a recent study, researchers found more than 4,000 college age youth who were either still in foster c are or had recently left the state’s foster care system. The study also found that less than one in four of those young adults were taking any college classes. […]

Being a Foster Parent According to most recent data, there are currently more than 500,000 children in the United States who are somewhere in the foster care system. The unfortunate reality is that there simply are not enough families for all of them. While some find success and happiness in foster homes, the majority spend […]

Arizona Creates Cabinet-Level Division to Monitor and Enforce Child Safety and Family Services In 2014, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer followed the precedent set by 10 other state chief executives, disbanding the state’s child protective services, seeking to replace it with an independent agency that would report directly to the governor’s office. Governor Brewer used an […]

Ohio Advisory Group Makes Recommendations to Attorney General In late 2012, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine put together a panel known as the Foster Care Advisory Group, a collection of child welfare expert tasked with taking a close look at the state’s child welfare system, and with making specific recommendations to increase the safety and […]

On February 25, 2015, the Bureau of Indian Affairs of the United States Department of the Interior issued revised guidelines involving the placement of Indian children into foster care or the termination of parental rights so that the child could be placed for adoption. Those guidelines are to supercede those that had been in effect […]

The news media has been carrying stories almost weekly if not more often, about T.V. personality, Sherri Shepherd, and her court case involving a gestational carrier. As has been reported in the media, Sherri Shepherd and her husband entered into a written agreement with a woman to serve as a gestational carrier for them in […]