A break from the story for a moment...

I want to go through each phase of the adoption process in more detail but I will do that next time. First I want to tell you all about the amazing weekend I had last weekend. I want to thank you for the support and feedback I am getting from this Blog. Last weekend, I had a stall at the Hout Bay Craft Market and again I was blown away by how many people out there are affected by adoption.  A lot of people feel alone when they are dealing with adversity – be it struggling to fall pregnant, agonizing over choices to adopt or to use a surrogate, becoming a first-time parent etc. None of you are alone. For every person that has phoned or emailed me with a story, another 3 or 4 have contacted me with exactly the same story! And that’s just in recent weeks!   I hope you don’t mind, but I would like to list some of the difficulties people are having so that the rest of you know that you’re not alone. Also, I thought that it might be nice to put some of you in touch with each other. If you are interested in connecting with someone in a similar situation, let me know.  My next group discussion session will be in Kenilworth on Sat 29 January 2011 at 09h30.  It will run for 3 hours, includes tea, coffee, muffins, guest speakers and a group of people who want to talk about adoption.   There are also all kinds of groups in many different areas. Perhaps those of you with support group details could email me again so I can put you onto the data base too? My email is terri@thegreatestgift.co.za

Here are some of the issues people I have met are dealing with:

·Fertility treatment – the expense, the emotional trauma, when to give up

·Other treatments like acupuncture, reflexology, meditation, diet etc…do they work?

·Wanting and coping with cross-cultural adoption

·Single parent adoption

·Gay adoption

·Wanting to adopt twins

·Support groups for adoptive parents

·Making the decision to stop fertility and go for adoption

·Want to adopt but not cross-culturally. Are there any white babies out there?

·International adoption (SA citizens living abroad who want to adopt black, SA babies)

·International adoption. (SA citizens living in SA wanting to adopt from Eastern Europe)

There are probably heaps more but that’s just the start. If you are in any of these categories and you would like to make contact with others, please send me your details and I’ll do what I can you put you all in touch with one-another. There are so many new and wonderful friends to be made and you never know…………..they might get you one step closer to a solution with their knowledge and experience!

Have a great day everyone. I look forward to hearing from you.