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I think that treating adoption like a "special" topic not treated by the same social rules as others may be a bad move. My son knows that if someone asks a question he isn't comfortable with, about anything, he doesn't have to answer it. If he tries it vs. a teacher, it's subject to my judgement when I get a phone call about it, but vs. peers it is 100% ...

First of all, as monsto pointed out, your child being eight means that they have a bit more emotional maturity, and so might be able to understand better. Rainbowkids mentions that life for adopted children is often very different from ours here on the "outside." Life in institutions is often based on submissive/dominance models; therefore, your ...

New Jersey has a Safe Haven Law (as do most states), which allows you to give your baby anonymously to any hospital emergency room or police station within 30 days of birth. You do not even have to take the baby yourself, you can ask a friend, member of the clergy, practically anyone. The baby will be placed in foster or pre-adoptive care. Adoption ...

Let each kid decide. I changed my last name when I was ten and my mother remarried. I got to make the decision myself, and I don't think I did the wrong decision. And don't forget to consider the names themselves in the decision. Unusual names have their benefit as you get less mixups, and names should be easy to pronounce in many countries (ie no weird ...

Don't worry about it. That's a really common behavior with foster kids. Here are a few of the many reasons why: Foster kids aren't always sure where they stand with foster families. He may simply have thought it would be taking too much liberty to call you his "real" family. Some foster kids still hold out hope of their birth parents showing up able and ...

The first step to adopting is to make the decision that it's what you want to do. No one can really do that.A few things to consider about this first step. Realize that you will be taking another kid into your home. Adoption has it's own joys, and it's own pitfalls, it's different than giving birth to children. Still, it can be a very rewarding thing. ...

I wouldn't rush into anything based on your fear. Parents are almost hardcoded to love their children, so you may feel differently after the birth. If you don't change your feelings maybe someone in your family would be prepared to look after the baby, e.g. grand parents. Would the baby's father be interested in looking after it ?

Fortunately for you, your son is 8. That's an age where you can reason and explain things. It's infinitely easier than if they were even 6, because they're still pretty selfish at that age. You didn't say how old the incoming is... that would really help. I would think that an infant or toddler would be easier than a child or kid. If they're teensy, then I ...

It's understandable that the situation frustrates you, especially when it's rubbed in by external events like the dance/bowling events you mention. One thought I have about this is that in many situations, you really are in the father role, so it should not matter if you're the actual father or not: In the case of those school events, there's no direct ...

The home study is the part that sounds the scariest, but it's really the most insignificant part of the process. They give you a checklist, just follow it. What we found was that it was a convenient excuse for making sure we were mentally prepared for fostering and adoption. The first time we looked into adoption we realized we weren't ready by the fact ...