by Michele Fried Discrimination: The unjust or prejudicial treatment of different categories of people or things, especially on the grounds of race, age, or gender. I recently asked why we don’t have a separate section on our website for LGBT adoption. Here is what I learned from our founder and CEO, Michele Fried, regarding her

by Michele Fried As my children are getting older (and so am I), motherhood seems to be defined in so many different ways. One thing remains constant, however, and that is how it feels to be afraid for your child. Before I became a mom, so many people told me how hard being a parent

by Michele Fried We have and have had clients who were devoutly religious as well as those who describe themselves as atheists and agnostics. We have heard clients insist that a higher power has/had some intricate plan in their life, in the lives of their children and family. We have also heard clients wonder aloud

by Michele Fried Recently we wrote about stress and offered ways to deal with stress. We acknowledged that stress in not necessarily unhealthy in fact. When considering stress, when do we pass into something known as anxiety? What is anxiety and when does it become a diagnosis? Saying we feel anxious or stressed does not

by Michele Fried “Wow. I have been feeling really stressed out lately!” Have you heard that before? Are you saying that? A partner? Friend? Coworker? Stress can surprisingly be good. It may energize or motivate you. The human stress response prepares us for physical activities and allows us heightened sensitivity and being more alert. Good

by Michele Fried I found this article very funny. I read it lightheartedly but I won’t lie, I have found myself wondering if the longest living person was a parent? But I have never wondered if our marriage would be better without children, not at all. I believe my marriage is richer because of my

by Michele Fried As mentioned in previous blog posts, the Child Welfare Information Gateway is an incredible resource for adoptive families. Adoption STAR highly values the information shared via the agency’s website and various print publications (as evidenced by the fact that we’ve incorporated some of their pieces into our agency’s Adoptive Parent Education Manual).

by Michele Fried Ok, I have to get this off my chest. When speaking to an adoptive parent, please don’t ask if we see Nick’s real parents, or how his mother is. Chris and I are just fine. I am an open book as far as speaking about our adoption, because we are so lucky

by Michele Fried Marie and Peter were coming up on their two-year mark with the agency. Their home study was already updated once and soon to expire again. For an agency that was only slightly over four years old at that time, the “wait” to adopt was not long at all. Even now, the agency