It is common for children who have been adopted (in particular at an older age and those adopted from institutional care) to display a developmental age different from their chronological age. A child’s chronological age is their age based on their date of birth. A child’s developmental age is the age at which they function
Continue reading »by Megan Montgomery It is impossible to offer a nurturing environment that meets the needs of each individual child within an orphanage. No orphanage is capable of providing the same quality of care as a family. With that said, each orphanage will be different. Orphanages have varying levels of financial support, staff dedication and additional
Continue reading »by Megan Montgomery Helping your adopted child connect with their birth culture pays dividends. When you choose to adopt internationally the odds are great that you are adding diversity to your family. With this choice you are also making the decision to accept, value and participate in another culture-–your child’s birth culture. A few helpful
Continue reading »by Megan Montgomery The China adoption program has been placing children with additional needs and older children with interested families for a number of years. This path to adoption from China has often been called Waiting Child adoption or Special Needs adoption. Over the last couple of years, this process has evolved significantly. Today, families
Continue reading »by Megan Montgomery The media has recently been covering the topic of “re-homing.” Re-homing occurs when an adoptive family locates someone else to take in and care for their child without checking into the new family’s history, completing background checks, or involving their adoption agency or other legal entities in the change of custody. Interestingly,
Continue reading »by Megan Montgomery As a new school year approaches many parents are out purchasing school supplies, making sure the perfect backpack is picked out and are reading books about the first day of school to help their child get familiar or reacquainted with this school thing. Some parents decide to ease their child back into
Continue reading »To even begin to understand the reality of attachment and bonding we need to know what these terms mean. Attachment: Attachment is a tie between two people. Healthy attachment is a two-way street, this occurs when a caregiver (parent), provides stable and consistent responses to the child’s distress. Distress occurs when a baby or child
Continue reading »by Megan Montgomery Every few days or so we notice something in the news about the declining numbers of international adoptions, so we decided to examine it and truly believe the decline can’t be narrowed down to any single factor. However, over the past few years international adoption agencies have closed their doors or their
Continue reading »by Megan Montgomery Adoption STAR is full of good resources for you to start your research to determine if International Adoption is a good fit for your family and we are happy to answer questions along the way. At first International Adoption might seem overwhelming, but if you are already considering adoption, you might find
Continue reading »by Megan Montgomery Webinars are a great way to fit a little extra learning into your day. I love to sign up for webinars related to adoption to enhance my understanding of adoption related issues and learn more about the critical things families are struggling with. Plus I do not even have to leave the
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