Whatever Wednesday

Each Wednesday we post links from the previous week that touch on special needs adoption. Our hope is that these small snapshots provide you with a glimpse of life after adopting through China's waiting child program... both the long-term blessings and the challenges that come with parenting a child with special needs. We also hope to raise awareness about a variety of special needs.

The Stigma of Mental Illness and My Son's Birthmother -- adoptive momma (foster adoption) Hartley at Hartley's Life With 3 Boys... on parenting a child with severe special needs, including bipolar disorder

Ignorance at Its Best -- adoptive momma (domestic) Deborah at the group blog 5 Minutes for Special Needs... on responding to stares from others while in public

Life's Guarantees (Or Lack Thereof) -- adoption researcher and adoptive momma (Korea) Dawn at Creating a Family... on fears about adoption when it comes to fetal alcohol syndrome and other serious "issues"

Okay, need help here -- adoptive momma (China) Annie at Cornbread & Chopsticks... debating with herself the ethics of advocacy posts after receiving a blog comment

Not to be underestimated -- adoptive momma (Ethiopia) Tisha at Deutschland... on the language transition when adopting older children

Smile Pinki: a documentary about cleft lip and palate repair -- adoptive momma (China) Courtney at Digging to China... a three-minute video clip about Smile Train, an organization that provides free operations for children with cleft lip/ cleft palate

A phone call you don't want to get (while in the adoption process) -- adoptive momma (China) Rebekah at Our Neck of the Woods... a phone call from their adoption agency sharing the news that their waiting child is very ill