Storkmom, a member of the adoption.com forums, generously gave me permission to repost something she wrote a couple of weeks ago about her family's semi-open adoption experience.

I think it's important to show all perspectives of adoption. What "open" means to one family is not the same as what "open" means to another. In this family's case, the adoption is semi-open, chosen by Storkmom's son's birthmother. Here's her story:

>We were married about 10 years before we were able to finally pursue adoption. All our friends/family who have... more

I found an interesting page that lays out the pros/cons of closed, semi-open, and open adoptions. Here's the link to the pros. Here's the link to the cons.

For all intents and purposes the vast majority of international adoptions are closed. Ours is, at least for now. We're debating whether or not to make birthparent contact (it's a debate because Little J was removed from custody and not vountarily relinquished). I think we'll end up contacting her, but we're... more

Your agency calls. They have a referral! The child meets all your criteria except for one thing - he has celiac disease.

What do you do? Is this kind of food-related disease serious enough so that it should affect whether or not you accept the referral?

Hmmm. I guess that's up to you. But as someone who is gluten intolerant (a close cousin of celiac disease) I say GO FOR IT!

Would you not adopt a child who had a peanut or soy allergy? Or what about a child who was lactose intolerent (as many children with African or Asian ancestry are...not to mention lots in the Caucasian community)? (Lactose intolerance is not a food allergy, but it's something that needs to be managed... more

This is the second in a series of posts related to the most common questions I have seen regarding adoption.

Question #2: How much does it cost to adopt a child? Answer: Again, the costs of adoption vary from family to family, method to method.

Domestic adoption can cost upwards of $30,000 (USD). Unfortunately, with an infant, the "demand" is higher, and the costs are more.

I TRULY HATE speaking of children in a "supply/demand" tangible speak, but, there are businesses that do just that, and hence raise the fees. To me, this is very sad.

The... more

Usually, it is customary when you're pregnant, to wait until after the 3rd month of pregnancy to announce your pregnancy to family and friends. This is done because this is the month, *MOST* generally, removes your danger of miscarriage, and your pregnancy *SHOULD* continue on.

Of course, I knew of one girl through a fertility website that, on EXACTLY the 3rd month, announced her pregnancy to EVERYONE, and at 3 months and 1 day (yep, the next day), miscarried.

With me having 2 miscarriages (that we know of, I suspect, by symptoms, I've had at least 3 others that didn't make it long enough to know I was pregnant), I learned quickly to not announce at all until I actually see... more