Chapter 9-“You know, I’m not sure.”
PART I – Hot Springs Island, BC, CanadaChapter 9 iNovel Link
“You know, I’m not sure.”
The following is a list of interactive links concerning adoption. Some are informative. Some are heartbreaking. Please be prepared.
Adoption.com - This has got to be the mother of all adoption sites (pun intended – maybe sometimes even bad jokes help and there’s enough material in this site that’s so not funny that I felt compelled to head towards lame). Topics on the site include Pregnancy, Parenting, Adopting (guides, international, stepparenting, etc.), Adoption Records, Adoption Products (I never even knew…), and more (fertility, dna, foster – the list is almost endless).
Top 7 Adoptee Adoption Blogs – If blogs are your thing and adoption your topic, this is the site. The titles alone make them worthwhile reading: The Daily Bastardette, Wraith’s Blog, Every Scar is a Bridge, etc. If you want personal viewpoints vs. institutional, I haven’t come across a better collection. Among these excellent blogs, Wraith’s is my favorite. Good writing. Witty. And good information and links to boot.
Adoption Guide – This site is from Adoptive Families, a magazine on Adoption. They also publish the yearly Adoption Guide, described by AF as “an up-to-date introduction” to the world of adoption. The home page has an astonishing number of links but the layout makes for easy navigation for people who face enough tough navigation as it is. Exhaustive in more ways than one.
Birth Family Finders – I haven’t actually been into this site because it’s intended for people who want to use a professional organization to help people search for, as the name suggests, birth families. I included it here to demonstrate an alternate route an adoptee might want to take in trying to root out information about their past. I can’t vouch for how good they are. Take it for what it’s worth to you.
Web Investigator – Similar to Birth Family Finders (above) except the feel is certainly different (and cheesier) and that it emphasizes the searching is done by you using their software and databases “from the comfort of your own home.” The price isn’t given. Caveat emptor.
Adoption UK – For all intents and purposes, a British version of Adoption.com, mentioned above. I’ve included in the list here because I didn’t want to seem to centered on North America. Adoption UK’s been around since 1971 and it struck this reader as very community and volunteer oriented.
Fact Monster – This site’s from Pearson Education and, from what I can gather, it’s aimed at kids, trying to provide them with information about all kinds of stuff in a cool and interesting way. The page I’m listing here gives a definition of the term adoption and explains the concept well and succinctly. It’s kind of like Ask Jeeves for kids.
One Great Family – The website’s subtitle is “The World’s Largest Online Family Tree.” Although it is essentially a pay-for-use geneology site, you're allowed to start for free (provided you enter your name and e-mail) with a one-week trial and they claim their database has over 190 million unique enteries. Although this site isn’t an adoption site, it could be used as a search tool. And, they’re both ends of the same stick aren’t they – our connections with the past?
Rubber Ducky – A series of bulletin boards dealing with topics like Adoption Support, Grief and Loss Support, Infertility Support, Parenting, Preemies, and a range of others. This link will take you to the Adoption Support BBS and even a cursory examination will reveal the sorts of soul-pummeling issues facing adopters and adoptees alike. This is not graceful writing like the blogs but it’s just as powerful (if not more so) in its own sparse way.
Back to the Chapter by Chapter iNovel Links page
back to top
Comments
Leave a Comment or Submit Material
Your input will be submitted to the site owner for approval before it will be visible to the public.
Be the first to leave a comment.