Stories from Adoptive Parents
Open Adoption: Life with a View
Executive Director and adoptive parent Shari Levine wrote this article for Resolve Newsletter. Resolve is a support group for infertile couples. It was a rare day in the Northwest: clear and beautiful. My husband, Cam, and I decided to seize the opportunity and climbed to the top of Spencer's Butte in Eugene. The peak offered a panoramic view; you could…
Dad is Hooked on Baby Ben
Adoptive parent Mark Freeman writes about the outdoors for the Medford Mail Tribune. He wrote this column for his son's first Thanksgiving in 1997. For years I've been happy celebrating Thanksgiving in the traditionally gluttonous manner. I go steelhead fishing early, then eat myself into a coma during the second half of one football game. I wake up and stumble…
Open Adoption: Building a Relationship
Adoptive parent Joni Radcliffe wrote the following article just after Joni and her husband were chosen by their daughter's birthparents. Their daughter Laurin was born December, 1995. Their son Danny was adopted three years previously through another agency. It was originally published in the November, 1995 issue of Portland Parent. It is reprinted here with permission of the author. Waiting…
Birthparents: The Phantom Menace??
Janet Atlas wrote this article for the Winter 2000 Open Page, the newsletter of Open Adoption & Family Services. Janet & Les Atlas' daughter Darcy was born on January 7, 1999 As we drove to Eugene, my husband, Les, and I tried to imagine what this meeting with the birthparents would be like. Things were different now. In the back…
An Adoptive Mother’s Tale: Fending Off the Slings and Arrows of Innocent Statements
Rowan Moore wrote this article for the Winter 2000 Open Page, the newsletter of Open Adoption & Family Services. When my daughter was about 5 months old an acquaintance I was having an exchange with casually asked me how my baby's real mother was. As her mouth formed the word real I could see she wanted to suck it back…
Two Moms? Cool!
By Terri Stone The week prior to Labor Day, teachers are madly preparing for the upcoming school year. It was no different in 2001. That Thursday, I came home defeated. I’d have to go back to work on Friday as my new chalkboard was still unassembled and papers not yet copied. My partner, Mary-Pat, excitedly greeted me at the door.…