If you have researched domestic infant adoption, you may have heard the terms putative father, putative father registry or birth father registry.  A putative father is a man who is believed to be the biological father of a child when he is not married to the mother at the time of birth.  Unfortunately […]

  The term “Gotcha Day” has been used for many years by adoptive parents to celebrate the day their adopted child became part of their family.  We recognize that not everyone appreciates this term.  Some people instead call this special day “Family Day,” “Adoption Day,” or something similar.  Regardless of what you call it, this […]

Jay and Kait Lakhani are currently in the process of adopting a little girl from China. They have named her Joanna.  Joanna was born with Down syndrome.  Ironically, after a 16 month journey, Jay and Kait will be traveling to bring her home at the end of October.  October happens to be National Down Syndrome […]

Medical professionals employ various methods to assess the quality of frozen human embryos, predicting the likelihood of successful pregnancy. Common techniques include Preimplantation Genetic Diagnostic (PGD) and Preimplantation Genetic Screening (PGS) testing. However, studies reveal that these assessments may not always be accurate. Lower-quality embryos, when thawed and transferred, can result in healthy babies, challenging […]

    We thought of our trip to meet and then adopt our children as our ‘first family adventure’ together! This helped when unusual circumstances occurred and we would just look at one another and say, ‘another adventure’ rather than, ‘another catastrophe!’ I truly think our attitude of being flexible and looking at the trip […]

    There are many different approaches to take when educating teachers and advocating for our foster children. If we share too much, will teachers make assumptions? If we don’t share enough, teachers might not be able to help our child flourish. Some parents feel it is best to share as little as possible. Many […]

    In order to offer clients a wider variety of services and to increase our geographic service area, as of August 1, 2018, Nightlight has entered into an affiliation agreement with MLJ Adoptions, Inc. based in Indianapolis, Indiana.  A full merger will occur on January 1, 2019.  Many of our Nightlight staff have had […]

    With the start of the new school year comes the onslaught of homework and class assignments. While well intended, many assignments can be difficult for foster and adopted children as they require the child to know details about their genetics, heredity, and family history. Our children may feel uncomfortable or too embarrassed to […]

    I’ve been working in adoptions long enough to see the significant trend toward open adoptions over the past forty years. I recall sitting in meetings in the 70’ and 80’s with an Adoption Committee in the first agency where I worked doing the matching of birth parents and adoptive parents. Actually it was […]

    Working with birthparents and seeing the emotions they go through in making the decision to place their child for adoption is not an easy task.  But it is necessary to support them through their adoption.  One way to prepare yourself to support a birth parent is by educating yourself.  There is a book […]