AdoptConnect

What chaos inside of our hearts and minds could be stilled if we allowed ourselves to acknowledge and embrace both sides of our stories? Quote: AdoptConnect Creator, Celeste Liversidge

Author and Adoptive Parent, Leah Campbell, does an amazing job of recognizing and celebrating the spiritual bond that exists between an adopted child and their birth parent. We love this book! Favorite Line: You have two loving families, his mom added with care, the Squirrel had you first, then chose us to be there.

Amid a wildly unique year, we hope you find moments to be grateful with the ones you love Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy National Adoption Month! How will you honor your child’s birth family throughout this season? We’d love to hear your ideas!

My Dear Hannah, I know in the depths of my soul that I made the right decision by placing you with your parents, but that doesn’t make it any easier or less painful. . . . Hannah, I want to try and tell you what it means and feels like to lose you. Walking out of the hospital that day without you in my arms left a big, gaping hole in my heart. That hole wasn’t there until you were born and I laid eyes on you for the first time. . . .... You were so beautiful and perfect that you took my breath away. And once I held you, I realized how much I really wanted to keep youand at the same time, I was brutally aware of how I knew I couldn’t keep you, either. You deserved better than what I could offer you. Now there are moments of darkness that come over me where I feel like raising you was just one more responsibility that I failed at and handed off to someone else and I just feel this crippling guilt and shame. . . . But then, in moments of clarity, I am reassured that what I did was a totally loving and unselfish thing. I did it for you and your future and the opportunities you will be afforded. Your parents are amazing and they are exactly the kind of people I was looking for to raise you, to give you the life that I sadly cannot . . . continued on our blog: bit.ly/DearHannah See more

This is so important! Stand up for adoptee citizenship with us today by following the simple steps below!

After leaving her hours old daughter in a ditch and dealing with endless amounts of shame + guilt, Adriana 'Jessica' Kelly's birth mother tried everything she could not to be found by her daughter years later. Kelly, however, had the power of the internet and plans to find out her own story. Kelly was met with more disappointment when she was denied any form of communication or information from her birth mother due to fear of exposure. Our heart behind starting AdoptConnect was to provide a safe, secure, and confidential forum for birth parents to connect with their children in situations just like this one.

We are cheering our friends in Ireland on as they have seen more than one hundred adoptees matched with potential birth relatives last year! "The balance of competing rights of birth parents & adoptees is so important but what we have learned from our past is the importance of the right to identity." Read more about Adoption Authority of Ireland + their dedication to connection here:

"The one thing we had the biggest misconception about was the love that a birth mom has for her child. We learned and experienced first hand that the love of a birth mom is a selfless love, a love so big that she wants her baby to have the life she cannot provide at the time of placement. It is something that is impossible to explain in words, but it's beautiful to experience." Javier and Amon, two new adoptive parents to their son Sebastian, describe everything they have learned so far within their own open adoption in Dallas Voice's latest article. The adoption process looks different for everyone, but these parents attribute their personal story to spending time researching, persevering, and showing love. Read more about their beautiful story here:

"Today we mark a further step away from the secrecy associated with the adoption policies of the past. We are thrilled to hear about New South Wales' decision to adapt their law, allowing both adoptive and birth parents to be represented on their child's birth certificate. Read more about this groundbreaking decision here:

"We're very lucky to have the support of his birth families as well, so he's just got this amazing extended family that love him to bits. We love hearing from families who have an open adoption, and this story is no exception! Check out The Sydney Morning Herald's article on the Moreau family's open adoption here:

"When white parents adopt a Black or biracial child, they are giving that child a home and a family. They are also establishing a situation that risks repeating a dangerous narrative: White people are the benevolent rescuers and patrons of needy Black people. When transracial open adoption is particularly successful, it can include not only the adoption of a Black child into a white family but also a kind of adoption of that white family by the extended Black family to whom the child is connected by birth." Read more of this beautiful perspective on successful biracial adoption in America Magazine's article here:

"How to constantly, even within ourselves, make sure that we are dismantling any sort of unconscious biases or any anything that we've spent you know 30 some 40 years as adults, believing or perceiving," Amy said. "I think it's important for us to know that the time that we're in and just the urgency of where we're at as a nation. It's not enough to just not be racist. This is not a problem, a matter of people of color, against people that are racist. This is everyone's problem." Read more of Amy's beautiful perspective as an adoptive mother within the article linked below...

Thank you National Council for Adoption for letting us share a preview of the new AdoptConnect site during the conference this week! Kudos to the organizers for putting together such a wonderful virtual conference on such short notice. It’s always a pleasure to be able to gather with our fellow NCFA members, even if online! Learn more about NCFA’s work in the adoption world by going to adoptioncouncil.org. @adoptioncouncil

Their adoption was open from the very beginning. Neither wanted it any other way. While their relationship hasn’t always been smooth-sailing, they’ve both worked hard to stay focused on their daughter. What’s their secret? No secrets, just a lot of showing up, showing compassion and keeping it real. We hope you are encouraged and inspired by their story...

This thought provoking article from Westport News on how Adoptive Parents often grapple with the decision of whether and when to share difficult origin stories with their children is a great read! We linked the article here:

"The people who are significant to them have become significant to me. And it is because of their birth mom’s sacrifice that we get to be their parents and I will forever be grateful to her for that" Our good friend Theresa talks about how her family navigates multiple birth family relationships within their own family on our blog linked below. We are so grateful for her perspective...

At AdoptConnect, we have seen so many problems arise with Post Adoption Contact Agreements that could have been avoided with honest communication + legal representation in the very early stages of the adoption process. AdoptConnect was founded by attorneys who, after years of representing adoptive parents, shifted the focus of their practice to represent expectant/birth parents. They've learned a few crucial lessons which they share on our blog here: