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We met each other a few weeks before I gave birth, and we bonded immediately. At LDS Family Services, my parents and I met the adoptive parents and their six-year-old daughter. We visited for about two hours, talking and getting to know each other. The day after we met each other, they wrote me a letter saying how good they felt about everything. They said it was an answer to their prayers.

After I gave birth to my baby girl, I had a couple days with her to myself. The night before the placement was hard. I was holding the baby, thinking, “How am I going to do this? Will I be able to do this?” I was praying for strength.

The next step was... more

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In my next couple of appointments with Kathy, we talked about adoption and how that process works. Finally, after weeks of meeting with Kathy, I felt that I had a good idea of what was involved with adoption and with single parenting.

Being a single parent would be hard, as would placing my baby for adoption. So I prayed about this decision continually. I put off deciding to place my baby for adoption because it was a difficult decision I didn’t want to make right away.

I came to the decision to place my baby for adoption after months of soul searching, deep thought, and lots of prayer. It took me a long time to feel like I had an answer. Even... more

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When I came across this story, I just knew that I had to share it here. Knowing that so many birthparents undertake the decision to place a baby through counsel with their church leaders and heartfelt prayer to the Lord helps us to know that Heavenly Father's hand is truly directing the course of these sweet babies' lives. It is not up to chance, and birthparents and adoptive parents alike can receive great peace and comfort knowing that He is there helping with these difficult decisions.

The story is called "The Adoption Decision" and can be found in the March 2006 New Era.

Name Withheld

A 19-year-old unwed mother,... more

Our family has been blessed by international adoption five times over, but we have never completed a domestic adoption (though we’ve been through two failed attempts). Because our adoption processes didn’t include being chosen by our children’s first parents, our involvement with and knowledge about birthparents has been little to none, and this is frequently the case for international adoptions. It’s hard to conceive of an adoption “triad” when a crucial piece of the triangle is just a fuzzy concept rather than a specific person or persons. I’m painfully... more

In today's story, we'll meet the H.B. family who decided to adopt domestically through a private adoption agency. :)

When my husband and I made the decision to adopt, we hadn't even considered where we might adopt from. If you're LDS, you go to LDS Family Services, right? So off we went. We had our intake appointment, were treated very kindly, and began working on the paperwork for our homestudy. All seemed fine, except that we felt no peace as we began to proceed. Despite our determination and a definite confirmation that our... more

Continued from part one

Also at this open house, I asked about adopting from Ukraine, but was put off with comments that Ukraine was not a good place to adopt from because they "put up roadblocks". We went home frustrated (me) and angry (my husband). When we got home, he said that if I wanted to continue with this, I would have to find a way to do it independently. That night I got on the Internet and found Cathy Harris' group Ukrainian Angels. She detailed her adoption struggles in Ukraine and told about how she decided... more

As promised in our survey of the various adoption options open to LDS families, I will be sharing a few stories from families who chose to adopt through each of the avenues we discussed. Today's story is from L.W., who tells us of her family's experiences adopting a son independently from Ukraine.

We have 4 daughters in a row and then a "caboose" son, six years junior to his next oldest sister. We felt bad for him that he was the only boy and so much younger than his sisters. I had him when I was 38, so really didn't... more

Haitian Chicken (This is my own concoction based on several Haitian chicken recipes, and if I do say so myself, this one is divine.)

2 pounds cubed chicken 1/2 green bell pepper 2 + 2 cloves garlic 3 whole cloves 1/2 medium onion 1 bunch parsley 1 small can tomato paste 1 cup chicken broth juice of 4 limes 1/2 cup orange juice 1 Tbsp hot pepper (Tabasco) sauce 2-3 sprigs of thyme salt and pepper

Finely chop green pepper. Saute in oil... more

The beginning of a new year can be a busy time for anyone, but we find ourselves particularly busy due to the traffic jam of first-of-the-year holidays we celebrate in our family. Mercifully, Chinese New Year begins in February this year, so we find ourselves celebrating “only” Christmas, New Year’s Day, and Haitian Independence Day in one week’s time. Most Christian Ethiopians observe an orthodox Christmas, so we’ll have that to throw into the mix when our new child arrives next year. For now, though, we’ll enjoy the... more

Families hoping to adopt through foster-adoption do well to prepare themselves mentally before taking the plunge. It’s very important to keep in mind that the primary goal of the foster care program is reunification with the birth family. While foster parents are busy doing their thing, there are parenting specialists, crisis workers, case managers, social workers, rehab specialists and the like, all working with the birthfamily with the goal of putting Humpty back together again. Ideally, this is how it should be. But foster parents should also be aware that they are often at the bottom of the barrel when it comes to weighing permanency placement options; social workers, the... more