Today's guest blog is from John, a former commercial airline pilot who has adopted four boys from domestic foster care as a single parent. John and his family live in southern California.

Not something you read every day on an adoption site.  Even more remarkable, I’m a guy. To be accurate, I’m only kind of pregnant, and I still hate pickles. 

This morning I was taking my youngest to an MD appointment and driving in heavy traffic. About an hour into the journey, the cell goes off; it is the worker in Louisiana.  I had sent in all my stuff and talked by phone at length to try to get a 10 year old, who is what I was hoping for. Too much time had gone by. They said a decision last week at the latest. I knew that no call meant thanks for applying, but we have chosen someone else. She starts talking and I’m thinking ‘Oh Crap’. 

Today's guest blog is from John, a former commercial airline pilot who has adopted four boys from domestic foster care as a single parent. John and his family live in southern California.

In business and law there is an 'Invitation to Negotiate' which is very different from a firm proposal.  Invitations include thought provoking phrases, such as, ‘We suggest...' or ‘It might be appropriate to...' They are intended to start the flow of ideas and reach a consensus on action.  Firm proposals are calls for definite action decided by only one party, very much in the mold of take it or leave it.

The Association of Black Social Workers and the North American Council on Adoptable children (NACAC) have backed a set of specific recommendations that would reinstate the prohibition on transracial adoption that the National Association for Black Social Workers (NABSW) so successfully enforced from the early 80s until 1994

Today's guest blog is from John, a former commercial airline pilot who has adopted four boys from domestic foster care as a single parent. John and his family live in southern California. 

When we adopt from foster care, we all hope that love, careful parenting, and persistence will solve our new child’s problems. Most of the time, it works that way. This is the story of my middle son who came home from foster care at age 9, his name is Steven and we are adopted. Steven fits into that other group, he is an unfixable child.

Today's guest blog is from John, a former commercial airline pilot who has adopted four boys from domestic foster care as a single parent. John and his family live in southern California. 

This is not a promo to get everyone to go out and adopt a foster child. It is the journey I have been through with my four sons who came from foster care, we are adopted. Each one came home individually, and typically was about age 12 at the start of the adoption. There is a belief in child psychology that if you cannot make an impact with a child before age three, don't bother, everything is set in stone. Hogwash. Older kids can change, just like adults can change.