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Celebrating Created Families
The greatest bond is perhaps that between parent and child. While nature makes many people moms and dads, others enter fatherhood or motherhood through surrogacy or adoption. In celebration of all the wonderful ways human beings come together, check out our coverage of the relationships that are formed by alternative means between adults and their offspring.
Creating Families: Which Birth Option Would You Choose?
Couples facing infertility still have childbearing options available. For those who decide to forgo medical treatments, they may choose to build a brood by alternative means. Additionally, some hopeful moms and dads that can have biological offspring prefer to share their love with living children in need.
Making Room For an Adopted Family Member
Newborn adoptees can be anywhere from hours to weeks old when placed with the families that will raise them so the process is similar to bringing home a baby from the hospital. Moms and dads who opted for an international adoption process or are adopting older children may be faced with some challenges as all parties mesh into a family. Here are some tips for easing that transition.
- Make the child's room a safe place for them by surrounding them with familiar sights, be it photos of their hometown, a favorite stuffed animal or blanket they brought with them, or CDs filled with music they may have listened to prior to entering your life.
- Give the child time to understand who the new family is before allowing others to spend excessive amounts of time in your home. Avoid overnight guests for the first month or so until the tot is comfortable with the people he sees on a daily basis.
Our Favorite Blended Celebrity Families
We've spent the week celebrating the ways families are created with in-depth looks at adoption and surrogacy. Some of Hollywood's most famous clans include children who came together through these alternative means. We've rounded up some of our favorite celebrity blended families starting with the Jolie-Pitts who have welcomed offspring from Vietnam, Ethiopia and Cambodia via international adoption and biological babies as well.
Approaching Adoption: The International Option
Every child deserves a place to call home and loving parents to raise it. Sometimes the parties must travel thousands of miles to meet each other. International adoption is a process which can take anywhere from nine months to several years depending on the child's country of origin. Unlike domestic adoptions, international ones usually involve children that are placed in orphanages or have been made legally available by their parents.
Creating Families: Which Method Did These Celebs Use?
This week we're celebrating the ways families are created. From domestic and international adoption to using a surrogate, celebrities have become the faces of alternative means since they are in the spotlight. See if you can guess how these celebabies entered their parents' lives.
Approaching Adoption: The Domestic Option
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.
What's Your Favorite Adoption Movie?
After watching the trailer for the horror flick Orphan the other day, I thought about all the other adoption films that have graced the silver screen. First to come to mind? Annie, of course.
Is "Orphan" Movie Fair to Those in Foster Care?
It can be a cold and cruel world for foster children. While some kids are fortunate enough to find warm, inviting homes and loving families, others spend most of their lives hopping from one home to another without the security of being able to settle down. Will flicks like Warner Brother's horror film, Orphan, scare potential parents from reaching out to take in tots?
Would Economics Influence Your Decision to Raise Baby?
One loving mother of three did something she never imagined — she put her fourth baby up for adoption. Struggling to make ends meet raising her teenagers as a single parent, Renee Siegfort, 36, did what she believed was in all of her children's best interest when she found herself unexpectedly pregnant again — she found a family to raise her infant, Joie. While the decision was heart wrenching, a recent report said that it is not uncommon as many moms are considering adoption due to the economy and the fact that raising children is so expensive.
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