In Adoption News...the Crusade for Original Birth Certificates, Mental Health Awareness, and more.

May is a big month in adoption! Mental Health Awareness Month, Mother's Day and Birth Mother's Day.

When all you want is to be a parent, this time of year can painful. If you're a birth mom, celebrating motherhood is hard.

So take some space, stay off social media, skip the celebration, buy yourself dessert, make a list of 10 things you love about yourself. Whatever it is, do what feels right for you. Show up for yourself.

Adoption in the News

• Adoption Rights Activist Recalls Crusade to Access Birth Records, by Rikki Schlott, New York Post
• Living in Adoption’s Emotional Aftermath, by Larissa MacFarquhar, The New Yorker
• ‘Where I Was Supposed to Be’: US Man Taken as Infant in Illegal Chilean Adoption Meets Lost Family, by Amanda Lee Meyers, USA Today

Policy & Laws we're tracking...

An adopted person's birth certificate is often amended: the birth parent(s) names are replaced with the adopting parent(s) names; and the given name of the child is often changed. In most states, when the adoption is finalized, the adoption records including access to the original birth certificate are sealed and unable to be reopened – locking away vital information and a huge piece of adoptees’ story.

Representative Cody Harris (R) of Texas just introduced a bill to change restrictions. So did California. And Green Mountain state of Vermont will become the 13th State to restore the right to request and obtain the original birth certificate for adopted people.

Adoption Book of the Month

Roxanna Asgarian’s debut novel, We Were Once a Family: A Story of Love, Death and Child Removal, culminates her years-long investigation into the Hart family and the murder of their six adopted children.

This book belongs on every adoption professional, child welfare worker, and adoptive parent’s list of must-read adoption education books. While the Hart children were adopted from foster care, the flaws in the system and the points Roxanna makes span both private and state adoption. 

Latest Insights

• The Home Study process can be intimidating…luckily there are a few things you can do to prepare your home (and your nerves) for the big day. 
• Author April Guffey talks openly about how her birthday sucked because she was an adoptee…As an adoptive parent, there are ways to help support adoptees around their birthday.
• Adoptees have two different versions of their birth certificate…and sometimes they don’t have access to their original birth certificate despite a desire to end this deceptive practice.
• Many adopting families have experience with infertility, which is full of ups and downs, joy and pain. Shannon Haltom shares her seven-year journey.

New at PairTree

Announcing Home Base

 A home study productivity platform that offers the tools that home study providers need to support a family during their home study. 

 We piloted Home Base in Texas and here’s what families are saying:

"We were worried this process would be overwhelming, but PairTree has done a fantastic job laying everything out...I'm a visual person, so being able to see what the steps were and what documents needed to be obtained helped greatly."

Get a sneak preview and meet our product owner Zaya!

A New Required Prompt for Family Profiles

The 2 reasons behind our only required question: 

"In five years, our relationship with our child's birth mother will…"

1. Most adopting families are shocked to learn that over 90% of adoptions in the US are open, which means the adopting family and birth family will maintain contact. 
2. The #1 fear of most expectant moms is: Will I ever see my child again? 

The question encourages adopting families to have an honest conversation about open adoption, and offers expectant moms some relief in knowing that she will participate in her child's life.

PairTree is a hub to healthily navigate private adoption.

We connect expectant moms and adopting families to the adoption professionals and services needed to navigate private adoption in the healthiest way possible. Learn more about our mission.

We rely on readers like you to grow the PairTree community.

Please forward this email to spread stories and information that can make a difference! If you have a story/article to submit, please email our Community Manager, Jess Nelson at jess@pairtreefamily.com.