When you are filling out your adoption application, you will be asked about the race of the child you are hoping to adopt. Does race matter? Should it?

In a perfect world, every child would have a home, and every child would be loved exactly as he is, regardless of race, gender, age, health, or any other factor. Unfortunately, we do not live in a perfect world, so we must ask ourselves these tough questions.

While non-adoptive parents might judge hopeful adoptive parents for making decisions about race, they really cannot understand the realities... more

What are or were your biggest challenges in adopting? The answer to this question will probably be different for different people. Here are the five biggest challenges that I hear the most frequently from adoptive parents.

Cost of Adoption

With most (non-foster) adoptions running in the five-figures, it is a wonder that anyone can adopt. Adoption is incredibly expensive, which presents a challenge to most couples. While there are a lucky (blessed?) few who can simply... more

Some hopeful adoptive parents choose to adopt children who are very close in age (under 9 months apart) who are not biologically related. This process is called artificial twinning, and many in the adoption world discourage it.

Pros

Many hopeful adoptive couples seek to adopt artificial twins through international adoption. Because there are so many children waiting to be adopted internationally, finding two children close in age to adopt is not hard to do (assuming the children's birth country allows artificial twinning). By adopting... more

This post is part of a series on older child adoption in which I am applying things I learned from adopting a retired racing greyhound to hoping to adopt an older child. While there are obviously many differences, I learned a lot that can be useful in adopting an older child.

I am a "by the book" kind of person. When we adopted our greyhound, I studied the advice that the rescue provided for the first few weeks, and I followed them to the letter. Meanwhile, my husband would much rather... more

This post is part of a series on older child adoption in which I am applying things I learned from adopting a retired racing greyhound to hoping to adopt an older child. While there are obviously many differences, I learned a lot that can be useful in adopting an older child.

When we adopted our greyhound, the rescue told us he might grieve his old life for the first few days or weeks. The dog might not have much of an appetite for the first couple of days. He might also cry or... more

This post is part of a series on older child adoption in which I am applying things I learned from adopting a retired racing greyhound to hoping to adopt an older child. While there are obviously many differences, I learned a lot that can be useful in adopting an older child.

When we adopted our greyhound, the rescue told us that there are some things that are different about greyhounds that we needed to respect before adopting one. For example, greyhounds must live indoors.... more

This post is part of a series on older child adoption in which I am applying things I learned from adopting a retired racing greyhound to hoping to adopt an older child. While there are obviously many differences, I learned a lot that can be useful in adopting an older child.

I have owned many dogs throughout my life, and I raised the vast majority from puppies. I would choose a really cute puppy, give him lots of love, and watch him grow into a full-grown dog. Along the way, I... more

This post is part of a series on older child adoption in which I am applying things I learned from adopting a retired racing greyhound to hoping to adopt an older child. While there are obviously many differences, I learned a lot that can be useful in adopting an older child.

I have owned one or more dogs at a time for most of my life, and I have taken all of them out for walks on a leash at one time or another. While I might get the occasional "He's cute" comment, none of those... more

This post is part of a series on older child adoption in which I am applying things I learned from adopting a retired racing greyhound to hoping to adopt an older child. While there are obviously many differences, I learned a lot that can be useful in adopting an older child.

As I mentioned in my last post, the greyhound rescue strongly encouraged us to keep the dog on a leash for the first... more

This post is part of a series on older child adoption in which I am applying things I learned from adopting a retired racing greyhound to hoping to adopt an older child. While there are obviously many differences, I learned a lot that can be useful in adopting an older child.

In my last post, Dog's Eye View of Older Child Adoption: First Few Days, I talked about the things we did to... more