Yesterday I wrote a post about spotting learning disabilities early on. I got the article I used from the International Adoption Articles Directory, which is a great resource that I want to make people aware of. People involved in adoption or experts in their field can post articles to provide information on all sorts of aspects of adoption.

In the articles directory there's an article called "Teens... more

I know you all are waiting with checkbook in hand for me to come out with my cultural newsletter (Kulturaforkids.com - e.t.a. Oct! - please e-mail me at mailing-list@drtpress.com to get added to the announcement e-mail list) but in the meantime I just got a nice e-mail from Adoptive Families about their cultural resources for kids adopted from EE.

Here's the link: http://www.adoptivefamilies.com/culture_EasternEuropean/.... more

Cross posted in the Hoping to Adopt blog...

I am writing today about something I know a lot about: what it's like to be the child of an alcoholic. I don't think I've talked about this in this blog before since I haven't had occasion to. Two things have happened, though, that made me want to write. One is that I read something in salon.com about a woman worried about her alcoholic father (here's the article, and here's a letter I wrote in response - the... more

My lovely son Little J has quite the potty mouth. Since his diagnosis with ADHD and subsequent medication the incidences of him calling me a stupid baby mommy have lessened, but interestingly enough, have been replaced by a more coherent discussion of what are bad words and what are not.

Some words he knows are inappropriate, largely because he's heard me say them and has repeated them and I've told him not to say them.

Some words he's heard from other kids (I'd say he's heard the "worse" swear words from other kids, not from me) and he asks... more

This is kind of a companion post to our Special Needs' blogger's recent post on homework. We have our own homework struggles in this house involving my older, school-aged son, but I think it's due to the beginning-of-school ya yas and the transition from our lazy summer schedule to our current more scheduled schedule.

But I am wondering how people feel about putting pressure on kids to do well in school. How much pressure is too much? Should pressure to do well come from... more

I got an e-mail this morning from a PhD candidate who is studying children who've been adopted internationally and their experience in school settings. I think this is an area that's sorely in need of study and I encourage anyone with a little time on their hands to complete the survey.

She has allowed me to repost her original request for participation in my blog. If you're wiling to help her out, please send her an e-mail (her address is at the bottom) to get a copy of the survey.

My name is Belinda Conrad Richardson. I adopted three children from Russia. Mary and Ethan in July 2003 (6 and 4 at the time) and Emaline in July 2004 (11 months at the time).... more

In the last installment of this story, our anxious couple was waiting in a room in an orphanage in Somovo, Russia, waiting to meet their new little boy!

But wait - I just remembered a part of the story that I'd forgotten. We won't get to meet little Yuri (that was Little J's Russian name) yet.

After we visited with the social worker we were then taken to see the orphanage doctor.

I don't know who I had expected as the orphanage doctor - a man? an older woman? but the doctor who we met was very young - probably in her mid 20s - and the first Russian... more

Today I had another visit to an elementary school to talk about my book, about writing, and about adoption. I spoke to four 2nd grade classes and a 1st grade class. That was a lot! Once again, the kids asked wonderful, insightful questions. But for the first time I was also asked some questions that gave me pause.

Here we go. Things that made me go 'urm?'

When you buy a baby for adoption, how much does it cost?

Did a baby die in your belly? If a baby died in a mom's belly and you were going to adopt it, what would... more

Over the past few weeks I've been doing school visits to various local schools (mostly year-round, which is why I visited in August). I talk to them about adoption, about writing, and about my book, When I Met You: A Story of Russian Adoption.

I wrote about my classroom visits a bit at the end of the last school year (in this blog entry, this... more

This is part 4 of a series about family tree assignments. Beth Waggenspeck, a communications professor at Virginia Tech, an adoptive parent, and a writer about adoption issues, kindly gave me permission to repost something she wrote about the problem with family tree type assignments.

For years, I have offered those resources to teachers and will append some of them here. I will not let the teacher say "Well, your child IS part of your family tree" as the "excuse" for such an assignment. Of course Sasha and Will are mine, and the Waggenspack... more