By Tara Noone, MSW When Adoption Connection opened its doors over 30 years ago, open adoption was starting to blossom, but still in its infancy. As one of the first adoption agencies focused on open adoption, we found ourselves working to correct three common misperceptions, many of which are still common today. They are: that … Continued
By Tara Noone, MSW You’ve written out your answers to a thousand intrusive questions during your adoption homestudy. You’ve submitted your fingerprints, seen your doctor, put up the extra smoke detectors, and swept up all the dust bunnies in a panic before the homestudy caseworker arrives. You’ve presented your finances for scrutiny and started an … Continued
When Drew and Flavio met more than eight years ago, they discovered—to their delight—that one of the interests they shared was in raising a family. “I wanted to find a partner with a child who wanted to have another child,” says Flavio, a Brazilian-born psychologist. Drew, a high-tech executive who had been in an earlier … Continued
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 Adoptive families raising small children right now are fortunate to have access to a wide variety of children’s books about adoption. Book’s such as A Mother for Choco, Tell Me Again About the Night I Was Born and A Tale of Two Daddies, as well as many others, cover a wide … Continued
By Dean Bonfigli It seems just like yesterday that I met my son, Brett, for the first time in Las Vegas, Nevada. I remember holding him in my arms with his head in my hand. We looked into each other’s eyes for the longest time. I was trying to imagine all he had just been … Continued
Amy Cunninghis, LCSW, has been an Adoption Connection caseworker for more than eight years. As an adoptive parent herself, she brings a wealth of personal and professional experience to each adoptive parent meeting. What first attracted you to adoption work? When my spouse, Karen, and I began working with Adoption Connection to adopt our son, … 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