Advantages of Reunion with Birth Family for Child and Teen Adoptees

Many adoptive parents tell their children that they will help them search for their birthparents when they turn eighteen. However, more and more adoptive parents are reaching out to their children’s birth families earlier. Sometimes it is the adoptive parent who desires medical history, information their children may want in the future, or simply a chance to thank the birthmother and reassure her that her child is well and happy. Sometimes a birth parent makes the first contact. In other cases, it is the child or teen adoptee who indicates a strongly felt need or desire for information. Some children … Continue reading

Bringing Children to Prenatal Visits

If this is not your first pregnancy, you may be wondering if you should bring your other child or children to your visits. This topic has recently been discussed in our forums. There isn’t a clear answer to this question. For some it works well, but others prefer to focus on their own health care during visits. In some cases, there isn’t really an option. If the mother has nobody to watch the other children, it may be necessary to bring them to the visit. If they are unable to bring the child, they may miss visits for lack of … Continue reading

My Best Advice for Blogging

Content is still king: No matter how the winds blow or the tides change the most important factor in writing is content. You must put out quality content to gain and keep readers. What is quality content? Content that effects a reader. Does your content encourage, enlighten, or engage? Are you teaching something, informing, or making your readers laugh? Readers are probably not interested in your last trip to the grocery store unless you demonstrate extreme couponing or have some antidote that is worth mentioning a trip to the grocery story. A blog post is a gift to your readers. … Continue reading

Fall Family Fun Under the Big Top

It’s a three-ring extravaganza for the entire clan this fall as the circus returns to New York. Okay, it’s a single ring, but the thrills, chills and big time FUN are infinitely more accessible. This is not just any circus; the world-famous Big Apple Circus–the one that offers incredible seats (no audience member sits more than 50 feet from the ring)—is back in the city that never sleeps for season number 31. Beginning October 23rd you can see the world’s most famous clowns in action and witness other gravity-defying acts completed by performers from Russia, Italy, Belgium, China, Germany and … Continue reading

Unfaithful Pets

Once upon a blog, Aimee wrote about pets who prefer people other than their owners. I got to thinking about this yesterday when I was writing about my friends who have been adopted by cats lately. In both instances, the cats technically belong to other people. But they’ve adopted new ones, which technically makes them unfaithful pets. Or does it? Cuddles Cuddles is a little calico that really belongs to the people who moved in to the house next to Cindy and Michael, our across-the-street neighbors. But Cuddles has decided she likes to camp out at Cindy and Michael’s. She … Continue reading

Federal Government is Concerned about Schools and Food Allergies

The federal government takes action in our education system in many ways. One form that has recently hit the school systems is in the topic of nutrition. Along with the stricter guidelines that are being placed on the healthy foods that must be served in our school cafeterias, the federal government is also taking a closer look into the foods that are most likely to be allergy problems for children. While many individual schools have their own plans in place for dealing with children who have food allergies, only a few states actually have a state wide plan. Those states … Continue reading

Kinship Foster Care

My last two blogs defined kinship adoption and discussed its advantages and disadvantages. This blog is about the related topic of kinship foster care. Some estimates say that nearly half of the children in foster care are living with relatives. This is very hard to measure, as many families may be taking care of grandchildren, nieces or nephews informally. As with kinship adoption, the major advantage of kinship foster care is that the children are with someone familiar instead of being further traumatized or frightened by being placed with strangers. Many children also find living with relatives to be less … Continue reading

Discuss Values and Beliefs before Marriage

I have always known that it is important for partners to have common beliefs and ideas. One of these commonalities I feel is in the topic of religion. I have always heard and believed that couples should share the same religious beliefs and values. However, I have never been a hard core person when it comes to denomination. I have the idea that as long as you believe in God and Jesus Christ then the church that you worship in is just a building. I realize that some denominations have very different beliefs. However, I felt that those beliefs mainly … Continue reading

Pregnancy Blog Review Dec 30 – January 12

A variety of topics have been covered recently in the pregnancy blog. The blog review is a good place to get caught up on the topics covered in one convenient place. Sit back, relax and catch up on your reading. As always, I welcome any questions or topics for future blogs. At each prenatal visit, the fundal height will be measured. This is the measurement from the pubic bone to the top of the uterus. The measurement is one way your health care provider uses to track the growth of your baby. A lack of growth from one visit to … Continue reading

Let’s Talk About Interviewing a Homebirth Midwife

Apart from fees and insurance inquiries, there are many questions to consider when seeking midwifery care. Consider asking the following questions when interviewing a homebirth midwife: 1) How many births have you attended, and how many were successful homebirths? What is your rate of transfer? Do you transfer if the mom desires pain relief, or only in emergencies? 2) Do you have references that I can contact? (It is always a good idea to call a few of the references provided.) 3) What are your expectations of clients during pregnancy? (This will probably be included in the provided reading material. … Continue reading