Tag: Attachment

New series ‘This Is Us’ gets it right: Five lessons for adoptive parents

Tears people, tears. This show is so beautiful in so many ways, but if adoption is part of your life you should really have a box of tissues ready. ‘This Is Us’ follows siblings Kate, Kevin and Randall as their lives intertwine. Kate and Kevin were originally part of a triplet pregnancy but their biological brother was stillborn. Their parents, Jack and Rebecca, intent on bringing home three babies, decide to adopt another newborn (Randall), a child who was born on the same day and brought to the same hospital after his biological father left him at a fire station because he was unable to care for him himself. Continue Reading

Meet the Mama – Debbie, single working Mom of three under five (!)

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I met Debbie at the Arise Adoption Conference last year and heard some of her story then, but today she shares it all in this interview. Hats off to this Heart Mama of three young ones! Thanks for sharing your story, Debbie.

Tell us a bit about yourself and your family.

I am a single working Mom, to the three most gorgeous kids in the world! I’m a doctor in a government clinic, so life is pretty busy most of the time. My daughter is 5 and my twins are 3. They all came home to me in the space of three months almost three years ago. Two totally spoilt dogs make the complete picture! Continue Reading

10 helpful reads for adoptive parents

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Whenever I read a great adoption-themed article online, I share it over on the Heart Mama Blog Facebook page as a reference for myself and to share it with others who might be interested too. It’s easy to lose track of these articles on the newsfeed and so I’ve put together a list of ten of my favourite most recent reads that have helped me refine my views on adoption (I’ve been sneaky and popped in two of my own posts too). I hope you find this list helpful!

  1. 5 reasons a new adoptive mom goes MIA
  2. Helping your preschooler feel good about race
  3. Do you have a reluctant spouse?
  4. For this child I prayed
  5. I thought I was gorgeous until I learned that I was just pretty for a black girl
  6. When the road is long and you’d like to forget about adoption
  7. Bonding with your baby at each developmental stage
  8. My friend’s adoption story inspired me
  9. What white parents should know about adopting black children
  10. About the adoption option

Have you read any helpful articles lately? Please share the link with us in the comments below.

When the road is long and you’d like to forget about adoption

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I love my kids and I love adoption but I don’t think I’m alone when I say that there are some days when I wish I could just forget about adoption. There are some days where I just want to be a Mom without the ‘adoptive’ part attached to it. There are some days when I wish attachment and bonding were automatically thrown into the mix the minute you signed on the dotted line. There are other days when I’m tired of coming up against a rigid Home Affairs and using all my energy and time to get seemingly nowhere. Some days when I long for sameness because if we’re honest here, it’s just easier – different usually equals hard. Sometimes adoption just feels like a long, hard slog and you can’t imagine coming through the other side. Continue Reading

Learning to dance – About attachment in adoption Part 2 by Alexa Russell Matthews

 

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Attachment in adoption is something that adoptive parents desire the most – we wish that there could always be an instant connection when we meet our child for the first time, but the reality is that often attachment is something that you have to work towards and grows over time, even if the love is instant. Alexa shares some great advice for those of us on the attachment journey in this short piece. Thanks Alexa! Continue Reading