It’s National Adoption Awareness Month, and it’s something close to our hearts at Mamalode.

My dad was adopted and brought home to my grandparents almost 2 months after he was born. My grandparents loved him from the moment they knew they were getting a baby, but many kids don’t have the same experience. There are 108,000 children in the US waiting to be adopted, who deserve to feel a love undoubted. While all aspects of adoption are celebrated in November, special attention is given to children in foster care.

Our readers have worked tirelessly to adjust to their growing family and choose love. They celebrate being a family, despite moments and memories of heartbreak. They have struggled to bond with their traumatized child, but stayed determined. They have continued to parent, even after the heroic feeling of rescuing a child subsides.

And they have answered so many difficult questions. Whether it’s helping a child understand adoption, explaining foster care to a biological child, why they can no longer parent a child, and how can a white mother do her black child’s hair?

Our readers have waited to feel like mothers, and answered painful questions about being a “real mother.” They have connected with and loved their baby’s birth mother. And they have learned so much.

Every story is different, but all of these writers are quick to acknowledge heartbreak, fear and uncertainty. But they are also incredibly brave. And together, they are experts. For more information on National Adoption Awareness Month, visit  https://www.childwelfare.gov/topics/adoption/nam/

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About the Author

Erin Loranger

I'm an intern at Mamalode and a student at the University of Montana studying Journalism, Political Science, and Women's and Gender Studies. In my spare time I find myself lecturing anyone who will listen on the values of sunscreen and feminism.