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Open Adoption Records Bill Signed Into Law in NJ

Open Adoption Records Law in NJ Seeks to Protect Both Adopted Children and Birth Parents

Open Adoption Records

Photo by Governor’s Office/Tim Larsen

In the United States, adoption is looked at very differently today than it was in previous years. Instead of being veiled in secrecy, more and more adoptions now take place as open adoptions. Childwelfare.gov defines open adoptions as a form of adoption that allows birth parents to know and have contact with the adoptive parents and the adopted child.For those adopted prior to this trend, a court order is needed in order to see one’s own birth certificate in most states.

On May 27, 2014, New Jersey joined the list of states that allows adoptees unrestricted access to their birth records. As reported by the Associated Press, open adoption records are also allowed in Alabama, Alaska, Kansas, Maine, New Hampshire, Oregon, Rhode Island and Tennessee. Continue reading →

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Same Sex Couple Adoption Case Appealed

Same sex couple adoption is a much-talked about subject, but nurses’ case was born from caring, not controversy.

same sex couple adoptionImagine raising children as a loving couple, providing them with a safe and stable home and yet being unable to make legal decisions regarding their futures, including with whom they would live in the wake of an emergency and what medical care they would receive. In Michigan, unmarried couples are forbidden from jointly adopting children. Since same sex marriage is also forbidden, as pointed out on michiganmarraigechallenge.com, “children of gays and lesbians in Michigan are forbidden from having two legal parents.”

Michigan’s Adoption Code is now being challenged on the grounds that it is unconstitutional by Jayne Rowse and April DeBoer. The couple, who has been together for more than a decade. are raising three children together. As infants, the children were abandoned  in the hospital where Rowse and DeBoer both work as nurses. Currently, DeBoer is the adoptive parent of two of the three children; Rowse is the adoptive parent of one. The couple, who are also licensed foster parents, want to jointly adopt their kids. Continue reading →

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Cultural Diversity in Foster Care

cultural-diversity-in-foster-care

Cultural Diversity in Foster Care: What It Means To Families

Foster care, by its nature, is culturally diverse. Abused and neglected children are placed in strangers’ homes, where expectations and communication styles are very different from where they came from. No matter how welcoming their foster parents are, foster children have to adjust to rules and traditions that are not their own. Some have never had a birthday party or a bedtime. Others have never been taught not to curse at the dinner table or to bathe daily. Learning to deal with these differences can be challenging for both foster parents and foster children. Continue reading →