The Birthmother Myth
Preconceived notions The birthmother myth. What myth? You already know plenty about birthmothers, right? Or you think you do. But these women and girls who have given up their children…
Read more
Preconceived notions The birthmother myth. What myth? You already know plenty about birthmothers, right? Or you think you do. But these women and girls who have given up their children…
Read more
National Adoption Month “Dystopia’s Child” was originally published in LUMINA vol. XVIII. Yesterday I republished it on Medium.com. Because… November is National Adoption Awareness Month. Not just happy stories As…
Read more
This is the world of adoption. Right here. A small writers’ retreat on a lake in Minnesota. There are five participants, not counting our retreat facilitator. Around the fire next…
Read more
Separating parents and children Families at the border are suffering. We weep. Tear our hair. Exclaim to the heavens about the un-American practice of separating children and parents at the…
Read more
Six children are dead There were six Hart children, all adopted from foster care. And now, though not all bodies have yet been found, authorities think all of them perished…
Read more
Adoptees and birthparents are everywhere But sometimes it feels like a secret society, this adoption thing. I’ve been at a writer’s residency the past month at the Vermont Studio Center….
Read more
The Handmaid’s Tale and adoption As is often the case, I’m a little late to the party. I just finished watching the last episode of the Hulu version of Margaret…
Read more
Dystopian future/dystopian past Probably you’ve at least heard of it–“The Handmaid’s Tale.” It seems like everyone is talking about the Hulu series set in the dystopian future. Women with two…
Read more
My essay about reunion has been published in “The Beacon,” the newsletter of the American Adoption Congress. Reunion, as we know, is a really big deal. Probably everyone involved in…
Read more
Senior Citizen Birthmother might seem like a contradiction in terms, but as the linked article points out, women who lost children during the Baby Scoop Era from 1945-1975 are now…
Read more
Many years ago I relinquished my baby for adoption. This news story brought my choices (or lack of them) to mind. A secret pregnancy in a Catholic town It was 1970….
Read more
Robot babies as a teen pregnancy deterrent There’s a robot baby on the couch. “Meet your great-granddaughter,” my daughter-in-law said, gesturing lackadaisically toward the plastic doll in the infant seat…
Read more