This Love Thursday is actually about all of the events that unfolded yesterday and how my adopted stepson came to the rescue in the midst of what can only be summed up as a really crappy day! We are traveling out of the country at the end of the year, and being the first big trip out of the US for all of us, none of us are yet among the elite class of citizens whom own their very own passports.

Absolutely no part of the process of obtaining these little travel documents adorned with our pictures on them has been easy, nor has it been fun. I have had to send away for multiple copies of our birth certificates, I have had to take online identity quizzes in order to get some of them,... more

When beginning your stepparent adoption journey you are going to be introduced to a whole host of terms that you may, or may not be familiar with. Below are some of the most commonly used terms, as well as their abbreviations if applicable, when dealing with stepparent adoption.

Adoptee- This is the term, which is used for a person who has been adopted. Once your stepchild has been adopted, he or she becomes an adoptee.

Adoptive Stepparent -The stepparent who has legally adopted his or her stepchild.

Biological Parent- A parent who is genetically related to the child

Consent- when a NCP allows... more

When stepparents do not already have biological children of their own, they are thrust into parenting without the adjustment period of early childhood to get used to all of the really weird things that kids do on a daily basis. Biological parents have the added bonus of growing with the child from day one, getting used to the child, to the stupid (and I mean that lovingly) things that kids do, simply because they are kids, and becoming immune to the little daily annoyances that children cause, because they are still learning all of the rules of life.

Stepparents become... more

As the summer winds down and families prepare for their children to go back to school, there is something else that many families are preparing for…divorce. According to lawyers across the nation, the end of summer traditionally marks a spike in divorce rates. Summer family vacations have been taken and paid for, and after giving their children a final family getaway to store in their memory banks, many parents find themselves wanting to get out of their marriage before the start of yet another school year.

So why... more

Custodial parents who are receiving at least $500 a year in child support are going to find a new bill in their mailboxes in October. The state is charging these parents with a $25 annual fee for the government's help in collecting past due child support payments. Roughly 130,000 Virginians will be receiving letters, kindly telling them to fork over the cash for the state's assistance.

Parents who have received any type of public assistance will not be charged the fee, when a custodial... more

Traumatized children exhibit many less than desirable behaviors, as they try to process their emotions surrounding the events that have happened in their life in which they had no control over. While these behaviors may put some parents off from adopting and making their stepchild officially their legal child through a stepparent adoption, if it is looked at in a different light, traumatized children can expand your knowledge in so many aspects of life that it is simply amazing.

Patching drywall. Now how many parents out there had absolutely no idea how to... more

The Child Support Guidelines Advisory Committee for Utah, a group of ten appointed individuals who convene every four years to discuss child support related issues, is considering creating an expedited process when it comes to dealing with temporary changes in a child support order, such as when a non-custodial parent has a temporary loss of income.

Realizing that non-custodial parents, just as the rest of us, can occasionally fall on hard times, which impedes their ability to pay their child support obligation, the committee is looking for ways to make it easier for the non-custodial parent to meet... more

Low self-esteem is a common trait among children who have suffered trauma during their childhood. Children tend to blame themselves for the things in life that are out of their control; such as a parent choosing to give up his or her parental rights, and allow a stepparent adoption, or having a parent choose drugs, alcohol, or an unstable lifestyle over parenting their child. Children do not know the powers of drug addiction, or the daily struggles of adult life, they only know that they have been abandoned and feel that had they been a better child in one way or another, their absent parent would... more

Many stepparents go into a stepparent adoption believing that once the adoption occurs, once the stepparent and stepchild are legally parent and child, their relationship with magically change into a completely harmonious one. These stepparents couldn’t be more wrong if they tried! A stepparent adoption does nothing more than change the legal relationship between the parent and child, it is the actions of the parent which will change the relationship between the two, both before and after the stepparent adoption occurs.

When a stepparent adoption is done truly in the best interest of the child, there will undoubtedly still be issues for the child to work through, but the family as... more

When you first begin your adoption journey, you may be surprised to find out that there are people out there who do not agree with adoption. Some of these people may be strangers that you meet in day-to-day life, and some may very well be your friends, or even family members, people whom you have known for years, but never knew that they had such strong feelings against adoption.

During our adoption journey, we were lucky enough in the fact that both of our families were completely accepting, and thrilled about the impending adoption. Some of our friends at the... more