Adoption is filled with many pre-adoption fears. I was incredibly fearful before I adopted my child. Will I pass the home study? What if I am never matched with an expecting mother? Would the adoption fall through? Would the birth mother come back into our lives while my child was still a minor? Would my adopted child reject me when he is grown?

These were all fears that I felt from the perspective of an infertile woman who desperately wanted to adopt a baby, but what about the pre-adoption fears of an expecting mother or father? I can only imagine their fears: Am I making the right decision? Will the adoptive parents love my baby? Will my baby be safe? Will my baby understand why I placed him for adoption? Will I ever see my baby again? Will my baby want to see me when she is grown? Will the adoptive parents honor the terms of the open or semi-adoption?

My extended family had their own fears.

Three stories about orphans in Africa in today's news are overlapping interestingly.

The first is a follow to the story I posted recently on the new flap over Madonna's efforts to adopt again, and the reaction of a guy named Nutt from Save the Children.

He's now ramping up the media attention with an appearance on CNN and rehashing his hash. 

Well, would it not be better to solve the problems of Malawi and help Malawians solve their own problems by educating their children and feeding their children and helping their children so they can get off that cycle of poverty? Not just literally transporting the whole population of Malawi.

 That dovetails nicely into this report out of Ghana that starts off with numbers: 

Ouradopt guestblogger Jeffrey A. Hancoc discovered he was adopted when he was 41 years old. Apparently, his family never wanted him to know. However, when he requested his birth certificate from his mother, several times without receiving it, the truth was finally told. The truth led to quite a family drama. He was born 4-18-1965 somewhere in Buffalo, New York

In late 2006 it all started simply enough, as I requested my birth certificate from my mother. I bugged her for weeks to send it to me. She kept saying she’d look for it and that she was not sure she had it anymore. In reality, she knew where it was; locked in my sister’s safe! I was 41 years old then, and needed my birth certificate for a US Passport application. I have a close friend, my college buddy Kevin, who lives in Canada. I visit him as often as I can. However, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security planned new passport requirements at that time that were to take effect by 2008 (now). Either I get the required paperwork; or Ontario, Canada would no longer be my personal retreat.

Eventually, after weeks of requesting my paperwork, Mom called Mary Anne (my wife) at work. It was in spring 2007, a few days before my 42nd birthday. Mom is in tears, and spills her guts about my adoption story. Mary Anne comes home from work early to tell me. Turns out, Mom did a lot of calling before she told Mary Anne. Mom called my Aunt Ethel, my in-laws, my sister Cindy, and my brother Denny for advice. Aunt Ethel, who was the best aunt in the world, told her that, “Jeff’s a lot smarter then you’ve ever given him credit for, and surely Jeff probably figured it out long before now.”

Have you ever thought that if you were not so old you might adopt a child from the foster care system or from an overseas orphanage? Just how old is too old to adopt a child, especially an older child considered as a special needs child? Personally, I know singles in their 60s who have adopted children through the foster care system. I was asked if I was interested in adopting my foster daughter at the age of 67. It is more common than you think.