In Need of Encouragement?

I'm pretty much always in need of encouragement, and yesterday it came in the form of this newsletter article.  It was written by an adoptive mom named Stacy Manning who started an organization to help adoptive parents persevere and maintain their hope during the difficult path of parenting children from hard places.

If you want to know more about Stacy and why she does what she does you can find that here.  She has written a book, Adoptive Parent, Intentional Parent, and she has a website, To Have Hope, as well. She is committed, as I am, to encouraging others on this adoption journey - only she apparently has a lot more energy than I do since all I do is blog!  Maybe she consumes more coffee....

Anyway, grad a cup of coffee (because that makes everything better) and have a good read..

I Was Thinking...

This month Hope Connections is celebrating our second anniversary! What a ride these last two years have been. Every day we reached out to family after family doing our best to ensure they did not feel alone and that they knew there was HOPE! So much has been accomplished, yet there is so much more left to do…the number of hurting families is staggering.

It has become more evident to me that we as intentional adoptive parents need to fight to put a face on what it really means to live the life we do. We need to be transparent-not angry-while we live our journey. We need to educate EVERYONE we meet about the implications trauma and abandonment have on children-expelling the myth that children will simply “get-over” their pasts because they are so resilient. We need to hold our government, adoption professionals, educational bodies and medical personnel accountable to acknowledge that the mental/emotional issues our children come strapped with are often times paralyzing to entire family units. They need to integrate that knowledge more realistically into the definition of “best for the child” policy making. Adoption regulations must have more focus on what impact adopting a child with these deficits could have on both the child and the existing family unit. Finally, medical professionals must be somehow held accountable to consider and act on the fact that children can and do have mental/emotional issues, especially those who have suffered trauma. Yes, it feels like an up-hill battle, but I think it is time to start the climb...together.

So, as we move into our third year here at Hope Connections…I know very well that my passion and energy will continue to be to support as many families as possible--we must stick together! We must support one another, we must reach our hand out so that none of us feels alone. I hope that you all will walk alongside me in this endeavor. Be open and honest; you will be surprised what a gift you can be to that parent who still blames themselves or who has lost sight of any hope.

Hey, you are in the line of saving lives….you can do it!

Stacy