Adoption

Parents working together after adoption

Once it’s clear that a child is going to be adopted, it can be extremely hard for biological and adoptive parents to maintain a relationship with each other. But without it, children can be forced to choose between two families.

Sarah Gerstenzang, an adoptive parent, and co-founder of the Adoption Foster Care Therapist Network says there are steps both sides can take.

•Adoptive parents can speak to a therapist with the child about what kind of relationship … Read More

KinGap – An alternative to adoption

Guardianship by family members—called KinGap in New York City—is an option instead of adoption. Here, Julie Farber, deputy commissioner of Family Permanency Services at NYC’s Administration for Children’s Services, explains KinGap:

The Kinship Guardianship Assistance Program, or KinGap, is designed to help a child in foster care achieve a permanent home with a relative. The key difference from adoption is that the biological parent’s rights aren’t terminated and the child isn’t adopted, but the relative still … Read More

Adoption kept our family together

I will never forget the night I received a call from my daughter, frantic and crying, “They took my kids, Ma. I don’t know where they took them.”

“Who?”
“ACS and the police.”
My granddaughters were 14 months and 3 at the time. I imagined the police and the worker snatching the girls from their mother. I imagined my daughter frantic, not wanting to let go. Then, off into the night they went.

NOT JUST GRAMMY

At that moment I … Read More

KinGap allows me to still be Mommy

My kids were removed six years ago when they were 7, 6 and 2. That was the worst day of my life.

The problems started when my youngest’s father went to jail. I guess I was not ready to be a single mother because I did not put my partying to the side. My kids came into care for emotional neglect and lack of me doing laundry, cleaning and taking my kids to school on time.

Three … Read More

Openness after adoption

Thirteen years ago, China Darrington decided to give her infant son up for adoption rather than let him go into foster care. Today, Darrington provides recovery support services to parents in Ohio struggling with addiction and is a member of the Birth Parent National Network. Here she describes how she managed to stay in her son’s life after adoption.

Q: What was your experience with adoption?

A: when I was 32, I was at the end of … Read More

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