A New Essay in Under the Sun

I have a new essay in Under the Sun about losing my first child to adoption. A writing accident I never meant to write about any of this. For decades…
Read more

A Birthmother on Mother’s Day

One dozen ways to be with a birthmother on Mother’s Day Here’s the thing. It’s not easy to be a birthmother on Mother’s Day. Try this. Google birthmother. The search…
Read more

Birthmothers and Witches

Scotland’s Witches King James VI of Scotland and subsequent rulers vilified people believed to be witches with great fervor during the 16th and 18th centuries. They tortured and executed over…
Read more

Ireland’s Last Magdalene Laundry

A Magdalene laundry memorial According to the New York Times, a new memorial will be developed in the last remaining “Magdalene laundry” in Dublin. The compound with its convent and…
Read more

Adoption’s Legacy of Harm

Witnessing the evidence of harm It’s been years since I’ve spent a Saturday morning in a room, passing around a box of kleenex while listening to birth parents and adoptees…
Read more

How to Adopt from Ukraine

How, exactly, do you adopt a baby from Ukraine during a war? By any means necessary. What is necessary? I will tell you what I learned from a story I…
Read more

The Handmaid’s Baby Scoop

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

The Handmaid’s Tale: Episode 2

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

Senior Citizen Birthmother

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

The Adoption Museum Project

In my morning scroll though Facebook, I stumbled across a post that had to do with The Adoption Museum.  The what? I said. The what? The Adoption Museum Project?! The initial…
Read more