What do all of these abbreviations mean? The world of adoption and special needs can be very confusing when you don’t know the code. You can also unintentionally offend someone in the adoption triad by misusing the codes. Helping your special needs child can be challenging even when you know what all those abbreviations mean.

AA – African American AA/CC - African American & Caucasian ADD – Attention Deficit Disorder ADHD – Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder AIDS – Acquired immune deficiency syndrome... more

As you continue to read and learn about adoption, you may be noticing a lot of “titles” for the word birthmother. Birthmother, First mother, Lifemother, Natural Mother, Biological Mother – What do they all mean and why are their so many different titles? It can be a little confusing at first.

Before I delve into explanations of the different names, I must remind you that an expectant mother considering adoption is not a birthmother. A woman does not become a birthmother until after she signs the relinquishment papers. Also, this post is not meant to be a debate on which title is the best and most appropriate. Instead, the intent is to explain the different titles.

Birthmother... more

If you are new to the adoption world, you may be coming across some words and terms that are unfamiliar to you. Below is a list of common words used in the adoption community.

Adoptee- Refers to the person that has been adopted Adoption decree – Legal order that finalizes the adoption to the adoptive parents Adoptive parents, adoptive father, adoptive mother - Refers to the people who are parenting the child. Birthparents, Birthmother, and Birthfather – Refers to the people who biologically created the child.... more

Those of us who have been part of the adoption world for a while can forget that we did not always know what to call an adopted child’s biological parents or what a home study is. It is hard to follow any discussion if you are not familiar with the basic terminology, so this post is to define some basic adoption terms for you. If you spend much time reading posts by people in the adoption triad (I define that term below), you will notice that not everyone agrees on the correct terminology for various aspects... more

Although most of our bloggers have posted glossaries at one point or another, we are slowly moving all adoption related glossaries to the Adoption Glossaries section of the Editor's blog for easy access by our readers. The adoption community uses so many acronyms and special terms that we just felt it was time we give our readers immediate and easy access to the information they are looking for.

We're also implementing some other changes in the form of blog/topic categories in each topic that we hope will help readers with navigation throughout our blogs.

Thanks for reading! We're happy to have you here!

There has been quite an interesting discussion going on in our Birth/First Parent Blog that has even bled across to other of our blogs as our bloggers weigh in with their own unique points of view.

As a reader who is not a birth/first parent, an adoptee or an adoptive parent, I try to take in everyone's point of view to better understand all members of the adoption triad. I don't pretend to be an expert on any of them but I am learning a great deal about members of the triad as well as our members who leave comments.

One member has left some comments on birth/first parent blogs... more

It wasn't that long ago that I was a complete newbie to the adoption world. I had no idea what the "Triad" was and I certainly wasn't expecting an anti-adoption movement!

Well, for those of you who are new to this, the Triad is made up of:

1.) Those who gave birth to children who have been adopted (Birth Parents/First Parents) and you can read blogs from them here.

2.) Those who were adopted (Adoptees) and you can read blogs from them here.

3.) Those who have adopted children and you can read blogs from them in most of our other blogs listed... more

I knew it wouldn't be long before I was brought directly into the fray.

When one of our bloggers posted a blog that spoke out against an Op/Ed that was written by Mirah Riben and posted in OpEdNews.com, I did not censor the blog. Plenty of good has also been said about Mirah at AdoptionBlogs.com but she chose not to see that. (See related links below.)

When Mirah wrote to AdoptionBlogs.com and insisted... more

While all of our bloggers do a wonderful job of covering breaking news as it pertains to their particular adoption topic, we at Adoption.com have determined that our readers need an up to the minute news source for worldwide Adoption news.

Soon we'll be starting a new blog entitled Adoption News. This blog will contain breaking news from around the world as it relates to the adoption triad as well as opinion/editorial pieces that we hope will spur discussion. We feel that by encouraging open discussion and civil debate, we will be able to help our readers stay well informed on all aspects,... more

As the acting Editor of AdoptionBlogs, I just wanted to make it clear to readers who may be interested in writing for us that we are indeed hiring.

When an application is received, I try to review it as soon as possible. Once I review it, I will either thank the writer and possibly give them pointers for resubmitting an application, hire them or (if I don't currently have an opening for them) ask them to be on a Reserve List.

The Reserve List is a list of writers that I feel are worth hiring and would like to hire as soon as I have an opening in their specific topic. Each topic we have has a Reserve List, so if an applicant is qualified to write on three... more