Pam Connell's comments

A Mother's Hope--My Little Girl Returns From Residential Treatment. - Blog Entry

30 Mar 2007 10:04 PM

Thanks for sharing this Anna. I'll keep your family in my prayers. Let us know how you're doing.

Introducing My Family - Blog Entry

30 Mar 2007 03:17 PM

All of Ed's blogs published prior to March 9 are still here, so we'll be able to enjoy them. I don't know exactly why he moved on; we will miss him. We do have frequent guest blogs from Melissa J (families.com Christian blogger) and happymomanna (families.com Insurance blogger) so hopefully they can still keep us in touch with foster care/child welfare system adoption issues.

Thanks for reading. Are you waiting for your daughter's US visa approval or her exit visa/travel papers from Korea? Most people told us the US visa approval took them the longest, but with our first DD we had her US visa permission two months before her Korean travel docs.

Ease Your Child's Transition: Learn Cultural Child Care Practices - Blog Entry

30 Mar 2007 03:01 PM

Yes Gina, it was ESWS. Our American agency had told us very little about the Korean agency so it was wonderful to see it firsthand and see how loved the children are.

My DH and I both traveled to Korea in 2000 to pick up our first DD. I spent much of the trip home pacing up and down the aisles. My DH traveled alone to get our second DD as our first was not ready to separate from me. That was after the 9/11 attacks when the airlines were not allowing people to walk around the plane except for brief restroom trips. We had been assured 8 month old DD had not started teething yet--but she cut her first two teeth on the plane!

Much Ado About a Passport - Blog Entry

29 Mar 2007 06:07 PM

Korea also allows escorts but the adoption is not actually completed until the kids are in the U.S. and usually the 5 months post-placement supervision is completed (but the US agency has legal custody during that time, not the Korean one, so we weren't worried.)

Russia and China, and I think Peru (not up to date on that one) require the parents to take the child to court in that country's court system and the adoption is finalized then ((although many agencies advise re-finalizing in the US to get a US birth certificate).

At least at the time our daughters came, they arrived on IR-4 visas while the kids whose adoptions were finalized in Russia or China were coming over on IR-3 visas. Those kids with IR-3 visas arriving after Feb. 28, 2001 became US citizens upon entering the US while the IR-4 kids got permanent resident green cards and became citizens once the adoption was finalized in a US court. So technically our daughters did nnot even have our last name until they'd been home almost a year.

Much Ado About a Passport - Blog Entry

28 Mar 2007 09:26 PM

Wow. We had to wait for our girls to get exit visas from their country as well as entrance visas to this one, but they weren't legally adopted with our last name all that time. Was the adoption actually completed without you being in Liberia or meeting her in person? It's neat to see other countries become open to international adoption.

I Had No Idea - Blog Entry

26 Mar 2007 08:06 PM

Welcome back Rachel, I'm so glad you're here and so glad Jayden is home!

Children's Books on Adoption from China - Blog Entry

07 Mar 2007 01:48 PM

Thanks so much for the reference and for reading!

Choosing Whether and How to Adopt Transracially--Our Decision - Blog Entry

06 Mar 2007 06:47 PM

Thanks for reading Teresa. That reminds me of a comment by my then-3 1/2 year old son described in my blog: Other Kids' Reactions to My Adopted Kids' Skin Color http://adoption.families.com/blog/other-kids-reactions-to-my-adopted-kids-skin-color

Kids just seem to have so much common sense at times.

Book Review: Adoption Stories for Young Children - Blog Entry

06 Mar 2007 06:40 PM

Congratulations! I have two daughters from Korea ages 4 and 7 (and one bio son age 9)

Book Review: Adoption Stories for Young Children - Blog Entry

02 Mar 2007 07:34 PM

Thanks for reading Gina. I am working on a blog right now that lists adoption books referring to specific countries.

Making your son a homemade book would be terrific. I've done a couple of blogs about making a lifebook for a child and also a family storybook documenting how you became a family.

Do you have kids adopted both from the US foster care system and overseas?