Tag: Cross cultural


May
2016

Meet the Mama – Karen Apsey: an adopted Heart Mama who grew her family through adoption

categories: Home, Meet the Mama

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Karen’s story is particularly special because she has experienced adoption in a way that most Heart Mamas have not – she was adopted into her own family as a child and has also chosen to grow her family through adoption. Thank you for sharing your story with us, Karen.

Tell us a bit about yourself and your family.

Justin and I have been together since we were 19. We love the outdoors and the beach. We are in the process of moving to Nairobi for Justin’s work on a three year secondment.  I am a school teacher but full time mom for now.  We have two biological children, Jess and Matt and have adopted our third child, Ben. Continue Reading


Feb
2016

Meet the AfroDaddy – Terence Mentor: The Dad with big hair & a bigger heart

categories: Home, Meet the Mama

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So, I know this blog is called ‘Heart Mama Blog’ and this series usually posts adoption stories from a Mom’s perspective but today we get to hear from a Dad, an ‘AfroDaddy’ to be specific! Terence is a blogger with his own Youtube channel – I’ve loaded some of my favourite videos of his at the  bottom of this post, so take a look. Terence and his wife Julie live down the road from us and we’ve met through mutual friends – if you ever find yourself in Rosmead Spar, keep one eye open for this Dad with a fro (and perhaps a kid or two!) and give him a hello and a pat on the back.

Tell us a bit about yourself and your family.

I’m a dad who is a little bit odd – in looks, taste and personality (but not too odd, I hope!). I’m married to beautiful, gracious, smart and wonderful Julie. (I say all this about her because it’s true, but also because it makes her SUPER uncomfortable)

We are the happy parents of 2 year old Liam, who we formally adopted in 2014, and 6 month old Eli, who was born last year. They are our sources of incredible joy and exhaustion. Continue Reading


Dec
2015

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

categories: Home

 

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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


Nov
2015

‘I’m adopted’ – An interview with Bridget Tuffin

categories: 'I'm adopted', Home

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Bridget is an amazing young lady who works as a freelance hair and make-up artist and I met her and her skills at a blogger event recently. We got chatting and next thing I know we were talking about my kids (I do this a lot) and Bridget told me that she was also adopted. It’s really amazing that we met like this. And so we hugged and became friends and I’ve asked Bridget to share her story with us as it is such a beautiful story of adoption and family and resilience and triumph. Thank you for sharing your story, Bridget!Continue Reading


Nov
2015

Prepared not Scared – About attachment in adoption by Alexa Russell Matthews

categories: Home

Alexa

Alexa Russell Matthews is a Social Worker with a Master’s Degree in Social Work (Play Therapy) from the University of Pretoria.  She’s also a future adoptive mom and one of her most passionate work spaces has been engaging with children who are still in children’s homes or with children and families post adoption. I met Alexa at the Arise Adoption Conference at the end of last month and just loved how she explained the importance of attachment in adoption, so I asked her to put it down on paper for us.  Over to you, Alexa!

‘Prepared, not scared.’ I love this phrase which was repeated last weekend by Debbie Burt throughout the discussion on adoption and older children at the Arise Cape Town conference. During this session, a question arose, a commonly asked question about RAD – Reactive Attachment Disorder and its prevalence.  People who google ‘pros and cons of adoption’ or google ‘adopting an older child’ or read print stories of attachment are bound to encounter this term. It’s often used to dissuade people from adopting, or simply used to tell dramatic stories of ‘children gone bad’. Continue Reading