Today, after some trolling around on the Internet looking for topics and issues that catch my interest enough to either save them in my favorites folder, or share them with the world here in this blog, I took a break to make lunch for my boys and throw some laundry in. I looked around my house and just chuckled to myself, but mostly in slight despair over the state that my house is currently in.

The house is without a doubt, messy. We are currently remodeling two rooms in the house, the downstairs bathroom as well as the laundry... more

When non-custodial parents have made the tough decision to go ahead and terminate their parental rights to their biological child in order for the child’s stepparent to adopt him or her, the next tough question that they will face is whether or not they should speak directly to their child about the impending adoption, or to just let the custodial parents handle it and for lack of a better word, disappear?

Already having made the tough decision to give up their parental rights and no longer have any legal say in the life of their child, many non-custodial parents don’t seem to have it in them to then explain their choice to their child, or perhaps it isn’t that they do not wish to... more

Most of us are painfully aware of the new passport rules which have made it harder to obtain a passport, as well as making the wait to get the passport into one’s hands seemingly go on forever! What many people may not be aware of is how some of the new rules are doing wonders when it comes to collecting back child support from non-custodial parents.

The government denies passports, both new and renewed, to non-custodial parents who are more than $2,500 behind in their child support obligation. The parent... more

The above is a question that many non-custodial parents find themselves asking when they are considering allowing a stepparent adoption for their biological child who resides with the custodial parent. For many non-custodial parents child support is a large factor when deciding to allow a stepparent adoption. Child support can be extremely expensive, and sending off such a huge check every month for a child that the non-custodial parent never sees, for one reason or another, can get the non-custodial parent wondering why he or she is paying so much for a child who never visits,... more

Questions are often raised over the fact that you must be married, and married for at least a year before the courts will allow you to adopt your stepchild. Many families dislike this rule, and want to know why it is that the law will not allow for the significant other of a custodial parent to adopt the child when the only thing missing from the family is the legal piece of paper that states that the adults are legally married. There are two stories in the news, sent my way by Julia ,that can help to answer this question.

Two small children, each four years old, were killed recently, not by strangers... more

My adopted stepson, like most teenagers, and lets face it most people in general, is not an avid fan of cleaning. When he was younger asking him to clean his room was synonymous with ‘could you please shove everything that is on the floor underneath the bed and into the bottom of the closet?” While he was made improvements over the years when it comes to shoving items underneath his bed, a large portion of that can be attributed to the fact that we broke down several years ago and bought him a loft bed, making hiding everything on the floor underneath the bed impossible. The closet however, still remains fair... more

Not too long ago my adopted stepson was one lonely, socially isolated child. Refusing to let himself be hurt by the rejection of others, after being rejected by his biological mother, he went out of his way to make himself as unappealing as he could to his peers. He was rude to other children, making enemies out of the children who were willing to give him a chance, and even bigger enemies out of the children who were looking for targets to bully. He took things that did not belong to him, he ignored the nice comments from children who were trying to befriend him, and would lash out at them if they just didn’t get the hint that he wanted to be left alone.

His personal hygiene... more

Some children have an inborn, amazing ability to cope with life. They accept what life has handed them and go about their merry way living what they have been dealt to the fullest. Children who have been adopted by their stepparent at a very young age, who grew up knowing their stepparent as ‘mommy,’ or ‘daddy’ tend to have an easier time adjusting to their adoption, as well as being abandoned by one of their biological parents.

When children never had an established relationship with one of their biological parents, it is easier for them to move on and accept the new parent as his or her own, or ‘real’ parent. While I despise using the term ‘real,’ ... more

If the Family Foundation has its way, there will be fewer opportunities for stepparent adoptions in Virginia. Not because they are against stepparent adoption, but because they are not all that fond of divorce and wish to pass new, strict laws to help preserve marriages, making it more difficult for couples to say “I don’t.”

A conservative organization, which believes that marriage is a union between one man and one woman, has already successfully campaigned against same sex marriage in Virginia, ... more

There is a fairly wide agreement in the adoption community that open adoption is the best (to date) type of adoption, especially in domestic infant adoptions. The general feeling is that in an open adoption, the child can grow up knowing all of his or her parents, and speak to their birth parent(s) directly throughout their childhood, about their adoption and all of the issues, emotions, and questions that go along with it.

While open adoption seems to currently be the most preferred type of infant adoption arrangements, the idea is spilling over into... more