Couple built their family through adoption

By Amy Bertrand, St. Louis Post-Dispatch

When attempts to get pregnant failed, Colleen Carlton and her husband, Rob, did something they had always wanted to do: adopt. Little did they know at the time that their decision would lead to two children, born just two months apart.

Question: Why did you and your husband decide to adopt?

Answer: Rob and I always knew we always wanted to adopt. Our original plan was to have a biological child of our own and then adopt. When our attempts to have a biological child through fertility treatments, IUI (intrauterine insemination) and finally IVF (in vitro fertilization), failed, we stopped beating ourselves up about treatments and went straight to adoption.

We first did research online, which just made me sad and...

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Adopted kids mini-ambassadors come Lunar New Year

By LEANNE ITALIE, Associated Press

NEW YORK — With its fireworks, family reunions and feasts, Lunar New Year is the longest and most important celebration for millions around the world.

For kids adopted from China, it holds special meaning. Lunar New Year makes them mini-ambassadors of a culture they know little about firsthand.

There’s no official handbook on how far parents of internationally adopted children should go to celebrate their kids’ birth cultures, but marking Lunar New Year — Year of the Dragon begins Jan. 23 — is usually one of those times for Asian children.

Their parents decorate front doors, throw dumpling-making parties and stuff red envelopes with money. They clean their homes at the start of the 15-day...

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Answers for adoptive parents

By Julie Landry LaViolette, McClatchy Newspapers

While parenting any child has its trials, parenting an adopted child comes with its own set of unique challenges.

Some may come from your family through relatives who treat your child differently or refuse to accept them. Others can come from the school through classroom assignments about the family tree or classmates who tease. They can stem from the community by nosy neighbors or friends who feel entitled to interrogate you about the adoption experience.

Terilee Wunderman, whose two adopted children are now adults, has been through it all. Now the Kendall psychotherapist, who has 30 years of experience working with adoptive issues, helps guide other parents through the process.

The first tools in...

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Florida group supports adoptive families

By Latoya Burgess, McClatchy Newspapers

Raising kids is never an easy job. But for the parents of adopted children, the job can sometimes be even harder.

Cherish Adoptive Families, a Coral Gables, Fla.,-based nonprofit group, tries to help these families by offering support and advice.

The group was started 20 years ago by an infertility support group of parents who ultimately chose to adopt.

Cherish President Jeanne Becker, who has an adopted 13-year old son, has some tips to offer other parents of adopted teens.

“The best advice I can give as a mother is to be open and honest with your teen,” Becker said. “The questions could be about school, growing up or adoption. You never know, so be ready and be patient.”

Becker...

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Adoptions create joy, families

By Niesha Lofing, McClatchy Newspapers

Ty and Catherine Rowe didn’t envision adopting three siblings.

When they began considering adoption, they wanted a baby. They hoped to experience all the firsts: first words, first steps, first rejected spoonful of peas.

Then the Auburn couple looked through information about children available for adoption in Sacramento County and noticed a lot of older children who needed homes.

In 2005, Catherine Rowe and a friend attended the Heart Gallery, an annual adoption awareness event. Photos of a set of siblings a 7-year-old girl and her 3- and 5-year-old brothers were among those displayed.

The Rowes had met the children once before, at a fall picnic intended to bring potential adoptive parents and...

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Adoption groups outraged over horror film with evil orphan

David Crary, The Associated Press

NEW YORK — Often divided over policy and practice, America’s adoption community has unified in dismay over “Orphan,” a horror movie opening next week that its critics say will fuel negative attitudes toward real-life orphans.

Some adoption advocates are urging a boycott of the movie, which opens Friday. A coalition of prominent national adoption and foster care groups, while not joining the boycott call, has asked for a meeting with Warner Bros. CEO Barry Meyer to discuss their concerns.

“We are concerned that in addition to its intended entertainment value, this film will have the unintended effect of skewing public opinion against children awaiting families both in the United States and abroad,”...

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