Heidi Bonfigli, MA, has been an Adoption Connection caseworker for more than 13 years and is also an an adoptive parent herself. Get to know Heidi as she discusses her experiences working with birth and adoptive families in the agency’s North Bay California counties. What first attracted you to adoption work? Heidi Bonfigli: Adoption … Continued
By Shankari Arcot November is National Adoption Month. Let’s all take a few minutes to educate ourselves better about adoption. Your baby looks just like you!! We know you mean well, but really, we are not as beautiful as our little fellow. He makes our family look beautiful. Where is his real mother?? Seriously, we … Continued
Written by Daniela Hako Although I find this very difficult to write, I understand just how many people making a decision about sharing their child in an open adoption may be helped. Let me please begin by saying that placing a baby for adoption is by no means an easy decision, or something you will … Continued
By Tara Noone, MSW My relationship to Mother’s Day has shifted substantially over the years. It didn’t mean a great deal to me until life surprised me with fertility struggles. Once it became clear that achieving parenthood was going to be an emotionally and physically draining obstacle course, I began to think of my first … Continued
by Rosangela Bragança There are so many misconceptions about open adoption, adoptive parents, and birth parents. By sharing a little bit of my own open adoption journey, I hope some of these misconceptions will be clarified. I am the proud birth mother of a girl named Isabella. She is 14 years old now. It all … Continued
Creating meaningful ritual in open adoption By Leah Sheldon Rituals have always been used to signify a change or rite of passage, or to mark a transition in the life of a person or community. Although they are often interwoven with religious traditions, rituals can be anything that symbolizes and celebrates a life change. We … Continued
Adoption Connection is pleased to welcome author Lori Holden to the Bay Area. Her book, The Open-Hearted Way to Open Adoption: Helping Your Child Grow Up Whole, was written with the help of her daughter’s birthmother, Crystal Hass. Lori answered a few questions about her book in our recent interview with her. You’ve been blogging … Continued
By Randie Bencanann, LCSW One of the most anxiety-provoking and mysterious aspects of open adoption is the coming together of birth parents and adopting parents. Neither party can imagine what the other side will look or be like. How will someone choose us? Who will want my baby? How will we know what to say … Continued
Kristy and Nate Boblitt recently were invited to prepare a talk about open adoption by LOV/CON. Adoption Connection teamed up with the Boblitts to help them complete their adoptions and we got a chance to ask them questions about the creation of their talk, and about raising healthy and happy kids. How did you get … Continued
Five-year-old Joachim and 2-year-old Jaspar are cherished young men. When the December holidays and birthdays roll around, the brothers get to celebrate with their parents … and their birth families. Adopted at birth, Joachim and Jaspar are part of a growing trend in open adoptions: merged families where the birth parents and their extended families … Continued