Formerly the National Clearinghouse on Child Abuse and Neglect Information and the National Adoption Information Clearinghouse, Child Welfare Information Gateway provides access to information and resources to help protect children and strengthen families. A service of the Children's Bureau, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Here is the link for this newly named website. Many of you may be familiar with the "National Adoption Information Clearinghouse". This is the replacement site for that one.

There is a great deal of useful information on this site for all members of the triad. This link provides information about search and reunion, finding support groups and the lifelong impact of adoption on adoptees and birth families. I liked seeing their acknowledgment of the "Lifelong Impact of Adoption", as there are many people who still do not acknowledge that adoption impacts people throughout their whole lives.

While it is certainly true that each of us may react differently to any given situation, including adoption, I think that few birth mothers are able to escape lifelong damage from relinquishment.

Even though I agreed with a great deal of what they say about the lifelong affects of adoption, I think that they oversimplified the situation somewhat.

While the birth parent will never forget the child, it is important that the birth parent adapts to the new circumstances and comes to terms with any regret. When birth parents are able to integrate the loss into their lives and gain some feeling of control, they can then move on to deal with whatever else life presents to them.

This statement in particular strikes me as perhaps a tad less than understanding of the complexities of relinquishing a child to adoption. However, I am still glad to see that our government is at least acknowledging the harm that relinquishment often inflicts on birth parents.

Birth fathers are often neglected in discussions about the affects of losing a child to adoption. It was interesting that they did cite some studies looking into how relinquishing a child to adoption affects birth fathers as well. Some birth fathers are dramatically affected and experience lifelong regret. I was pleased to know that some studies are now focusing on how birth fathers are impacted as well.

To Be Continued.........................................