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Next week, the month of May comes to a rapid start and, with it, the advent of summer.  However, before pining a tidy bow on the month of May, I want to remind you that May is National Foster Care Month.

As adoption professionals, we tip our hat to Florida’s foster parents, who day-in and day-out are the lifelines for many of our state’s precious children. Many of these foster moms and dads nurture these kids for a time but ultimately, bid them adieu when the child is reunified with their biological parents or placed elsewhere.

One of the highlights of my job is keeping in touch with the adoptive families after placement and receiving updated photos and videos of the children. 

We get to see quite a bit of our kiddos when they are babies in the hospital, little bundles all snuggly in thier stocking caps. 

It’s coming.  We all feel it.  Once the year changes, you feel like you have a world of time, and then before you know it, it’s April 17^th, Tax Day.

One important thing to remember this ominous weekend is to apply for your adoption tax credit if you finalized your adoption in 2017.

In college, I volunteered with a group that held kid’s clubs in the inner city.  We focused on one neighborhood in Clearwater. We would go into the neighborhood, pick up the kids, (with the permission of their parents) and walk them across the street to a field to play games, sing songs, and such.

The neighborhood was old.  The buildings were fairly run down and the whole of it was tan and dingy. The street of the neighborhood made sort of a “U” shape arrangement. And at the bottom of that “U” was a tree.

As Spring Break is peaking around the corner I started to think about what my plans would be. Typically- I work.  Although my son and I are super close, he is still a teenager and the last thing he wants to do is hang out with his mom for a week.  It just isn’t the ‘cool’ thing to do.

We love our kiddos.  All our kiddos.

But for all our preparation, for thought, and care, it is not for us to spend much time with them once they come.  If we do our job well, than the child should pass from the birth parents arms to the adoptive parents arms, (and a few nurses in-between).  As much as we would love to snuggle, giving both sides of the adoption triad as much time as possible is the goal.

Completing the homestudy paperwork can be a terrifying adventure – the list of tasks seems to go on forever and the questions are probing and can trigger hard memories. 

Oh there is power in Amazon.  Where else can you find unicorn headphones, perfect throw pillows, and discount Legos. And now that shipping can be as quick as same day, the possibilities are endless.

What to Expect When You’re Expecting a Home Visit

Completing the homestudy paperwork can be a terrifying adventure – the list of tasks seems to go on forever and the questions are probing and can trigger hard memories. 

When I was first asked to write a blog I thought, “What a strange word?” Sounds a bit like it should be the title of a B rated horror flick.

For a bit of background, I’m a part of the adoption triad. Not the usual, adoptive parent or adoptee, but I am a birth mom. I say not the usual because back in my day, we didn’t share that information. "Giving a child up" for adoption was kept secret and swept under the carpet. I’m grateful that it’s not that way today.