LilSugar

Celebaby Roundup

babysugar — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 15:05:01 -0700

Despite the Dow's historic crash and the House of Representatives failing to pass the $700 billion bail-out measure, things seem to be just peachy in the life of celebabies. It's actually a nice distraction to watch cheery cheeks smiling from ear to ear in a sunshiny environment. Why must Kingston lose his buoyant demeanor or Ruby Maguire her perky pigtails over such fiscal matters? Matilda Ledger seems to be the only tot who dressed for this Monday's doomsday occasion.
Pacific Coast News Online, Flynet, and Bauer Griffin Online

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Approaching Adoption: The Domestic Option

LilSugar — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 14:00:13 -0700

Not all mothers meet their babies at birth. For some, connecting with their child is more a labor of effort and love. Celebrities like Angelina Jolie, Meg Ryan, Edie Falco, Calista Flockhart, and Nia Vardalos have put familiar faces on adoption and made it a household word. Hopeful parents have reasons ranging from fertility issues to choice in deciding to adopt domestically. The process involves the placement of American-born children with US-based parents and can be facilitated by an agency, like New York's Spence-Chapin or a private attorney. Firms match birth mothers and adoptive families and usher them through the process while lawyers often work with doctors who have patients interested in handing their children over for someone else to raise.

Qualifications: Once families register with an agency, they go through a home-study process, which involves criminal and medical background checks, a safe home and stable living environment inspection, a financial records review and monitoring of marital status. The family also submits a letter to prospective birth mothers explaining why they want to adopt.

To see the rest of our look at domestic adoption read more.

Timeline: The average domestic adoption takes 12-18 months. The most lengthy part of the process is the home study that can take up to five months. According to Spence-Chapin, single parents tend to wait longer than married couples because birth mothers are the ones making the choice. Once a family has been selected and the baby is born, the families must sign the terms of their agreement before the child is placed. After placement, many states require three to six months of monitoring by a social worker before the process is considered complete.

Costs: Domestic adoptions through an agency range from approximately $12,000 to $30,000. Some use a sliding scale based on the couple's income while others, like Chicago's The Cradle, charge set fees. These costs include everything from registration to the fee paid to the birth mother.

Considerations: Before deciding to adopt, parents should be comfortable with the idea of what it means to be an adoptive family - that their child might not resemble them and that questions will arise throughout their offspring's life. Future moms and dads also need to choose between an open adoption - where birth parents and adoptive parents agree to ongoing contact of some kind throughout the child's life, be it exchanging letters or medical records or a closed adoption, where there is no contact once the baby has been placed.

Would You Adopt Locally or Abroad?

LilSugar — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 09:00:16 -0700

Celebrities have become the poster children for adoption. Meg Ryan and Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt created families from children from around the world while Sharon Stone built her brood by adopting American babies. Mothers and fathers have reasons for making their choices as lil ones everywhere are in need of parents that love them.

If you were to adopt which option would you pursue?

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Lil Links: Brad Garrett's Dates Don't Meet His Kids

LilSugar — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 11:00:09 -0700

Brad Garrett's dates don't meet the kids - Celebrity Baby Blog
Meg Ryan is crazy about Daisy - Celebrity Baby Scoop
Parents ask that their daughter be treated the same - Parent Dish
Just got back from dropping my son off at college - The Poop
How to spice up your post-kid marriage or relationship - Alpha Mom
Win $1,000 wardrobe and a library of parenting books - Mommy Trackd
Gwyneth Paltrow shares advice on Goop - FAME Baby

Lil Links

LilSugar — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 13:00:53 -0800

A mother's fatal mistake killed her son - Mom Logic
Inducing labor - The Nest Baby
Meg Ryan and daughter Daisy at the farmers market - Celebrity Baby Scoop
Five ways to spoil your children - Fussypants
Recycle bottle caps into memory game - ohdeedoh
When kids ask about gay parents- Parent Dish
Male and Pregnant - The Poop
Michelle Obama: mother and wife - Mommy Trackd

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