Step Family + Step-mother + Stepparent adoption

Common Terms for Stepparent Adoption and Divorce

JulieC — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 10:25:57 -0500

There are many terms specific to stepparent adoption, some of which you may know already from your time as a stepparent, while others dealing more with adoption than stepparenting or divorce, may be new to you. This list will help to familiarize you with the most common terms related to stepparents, and stepparent adoption.

Adoptee- used to describe a person whom has been legally adopted. Once your stepchild has been adopted, he or she becomes an adoptee.

Adoptive Stepparent-A stepparent who completed the legal process of adopting their stepchild.

Biological Parent- The adult who is genetically related to the child.

Consent- when a NCP gives permission for a stepparent adoption by willingly signing over his or her parental rights.

Contest- When a NCP does not consent, or agree, to a stepparent adoption, and actively fights the adoption.

Who is Most Likely to Adopt?

JulieC — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 23:50:34 -0500

To some it will come as no surprise at all, but the rest of the world will desperately be wiping coffee off of their computer screens as they learn that men aged 18-44 are more than twice as likely to adopt as women of the same age group. Among married couples, men were more than two and a half times likely to have adopted a child, with 3.8 percent of men, compared to 1.4 percent of the women who had adopted.

This is the first time that a government survey about adoption has traced what a man’s connection and experience with adoption is, as well as those of unmarried women in the United States. While married men may have the lead in adoptions for that particular demographic; which is believed to be related to more biological mothers retaining custody of their children after a divorce than fathers, allowing the opportunity for more stepfathers to adopt their stepchildren, single women of the 18-44 demographic came out on top with 100,000 of them adopting in 2002, compared to only 73,000 men.

"I am Adopted."

GuestBlogger — Fri, 23 May 2008 21:51:06 -0500

Angst One Step At A Time" />

This guest blog is from the sixteen-year-old son of JulieC, who was adopted as an older child through a stepparent adoption after being abandoned by his birthmother. After suffering much emotional trauma in his short life, he has grown into an extraordinary, and outstanding young man, who although suffers from a touch of the teenage lazies, never ceases to make his parents proud in all of his many accomplishments.

I tried to write a poem about my relationship with my mom,

Is Stepparent Adoption Really THAT Easy?

JulieC — Thu, 15 May 2008 09:59:15 -0500

No, I am not talking about the actual stepparent adoption process, but the life of the family after the adoption of a stepchild. All over the Internet, one will find support groups for adoptive parents, blogs for adoptive parents, and forums for adoptive parents. Yet adoptive stepparents, although being involved in the most common form of adoption in the United States, are seemingly nowhere to be found.

Most often, when adoptive stepparents are seeking support, it is before the actual adoption. They are seeking information as to how to go about performing a stepparent adoption, yet once the adoption is complete, rarely do those

Where Can I Get Stepparent Adoption Forms?

JulieC — Wed, 14 May 2008 13:18:57 -0500

After a family decides to go through with a stepparent adoption, one of the first questions that they will ask, either themselves or others, is “where can I get the forms to complete a stepparent adoption

Surrogacy and Adoption

JulieC — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 08:11:12 -0500

When people think of a surrogate mother, they think of a woman who carries a baby for another couple, not so much of adoption, yet did you know that surrogacy and adoption go hand in hand?

More "Brady Bunch" Wisdom on Being a "Real" Parent

FaithA — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:40:21 -0500

After I wrote my last two posts, "The Brady Bunch" on Step-Parent Adoption and Adoptive Parents: Are You Treated Like the "Real" Parent?, I watched another episode of The Brady Bunch that tied the two posts together. I figured that this meant that I was destined to write about it – either that or that my brain really has turned to mush from watching too many Brady Bunch episodes, just as hub said it would.

This episode was the one in which Mike wins the "Father of the Year" contest. Marcia spends the whole episode writing an essay on why Mike should be the father of the year and keeps getting into trouble for breaking the house rules and not revealing why. Mike is obviously shocked to find out the real reason for Marcia's disobedience. They read part of the essay, in which Marcia wrote, "Even though he has only been my father for a short time, no one could be a 'realer' father."

"The Brady Bunch" on Step-Parent Adoption

FaithA — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 18:37:31 -0500

Okay, I admit it: I am a Brady Bunch fan. Watching The Brady Bunch was a happy memory from my childhood, and those of you who have followed my blogs for a while know that those memories are few and far between. Hub is not real crazy about his wife watching The Brady Bunch, but I am not real crazy about him scaring the dog while he yells at the television during Carolina games, so I guess that makes us even.

I have not seen an episode of The Brady Bunch in years, so I thought it would be fun to watch the series on Netflix. It has been really neat to see the episodes in order because I have always seen whatever happened to be aired at the moment in syndication. (I was only a toddler when the series launched.)

This weekend, I watched the episode where Bobby (who was maybe seven years old) wants to run away from home.

"She's The Proof Biology Isn't Everything..."

JulieC — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 22:57:06 -0500

Those words were spoken by my adopted stepson this afternoon while I was pulling into a 7-11 to get the boys an after school snack. His best friend was in the car, and somehow they had gotten on the topic of his adoption. Apparently the other boy hadn't realized that I had legally adopted my son, and was under the impression that I was still only a read more