by GIFT Coach | Jun 24, 2015 | General Discussion
Growing Intentional Families Together chose the tree as our logo because it offers an apt and frequently-used metaphor for adoption. The common interpretation sees the roots representing the birth parents/birth family, the trunk as the extended adoptive family, the...
by GIFT Coach | Jun 17, 2015 | Adoption realities, General Discussion
June brings to mind Brides, grads and dads. All are well worth celebrating. This week our blog will focus on graduations in the adoptive family context. Many grads finish school and turn eighteen in the same year. That creates a double whammy of stress. For kids with...
by GIFT Coach | Jun 3, 2015 | Blogs by Gayle Swift, General Discussion
During the last month or so, our family has celebrated several family milestones. My son turned thirty. My husband turned sixty-seven. We observed our forty-fourth (!) wedding anniversary. With great hoopla (and decked out in costumes,) we gathered for a baby shower...
by GIFT Coach | May 27, 2015 | Blogs by Gayle Swift, General Discussion
Adopted families, like those formed exclusively by birth are fundamentally the same: parents and children love and are committed to one another forever. But our journey included more twists, turns, and an array of “intermediaries” (social workers, lawyers,...
by GIFT Coach | May 21, 2015 | Blogs by Gayle Swift, Faith and Values, General Discussion, Open Adoption, Strengthening Family Relationships
My children are now adults –twenty-eight and thirty years old. (Of course, in my heart, they will always be my babies.) Each is steadily pursuing relationships and careers guided by an inner compass that evolved from a combination of factors: nurture, DNA, personal...
by GIFT Coach | May 13, 2015 | Adoptive Parenting Skills/Tool, Blogs by Guests, Difficult Discussions, Faith and Values, General Discussion, Guest blog: Lori Holden, Open Adoption, Strengthening Family Relationships, The Adoption Triad
Lori Holden: Reader questions about open adoption relationships: What did you learn about Adoption? During a discussion of my book, The Open-Hearted Way to Open Adoption, held by a virtual book club two years ago, I was asked the question you see in the title above....
