The risk for lead exposure is higher in many countries from which children are adopted than in the United States. Sources of lead exposure vary by country. Concern exists about children adopted from overseas who may have been exposed in their home countries.

The Nightlight team has been in Uganda for 3 days, and I am just now getting around to updating the blog. We have had 3 very busy days and last night, we had a black out in the evening. There are so many wonderful stories to share of God’s grace and love and, I’m certain […]

Because of the profound impact that the parents’ attachment style has on a child’s emotional well-being, we as adoptive parents need to understand our own attachment style if we are to help our children, especially those with difficult histories.

Fortunately, as a child’s environment changes and the neurotransmitter levels become normal, the child’s behavior changes, further changing the brain chemistry. This then affects the brain structure and operation, helping the brain, which is malleable, to then return to a more normal state.

Before you adopt a child—any child—it is only natural to consider what the response of friends and family will be. After all, this is one of the steps in the adoption process—telling others.

Adopting a child from another country who is HIV positive requires no special visa beyond the usual IR-3 or IR-4 visas. However, you will want to be prepared for the adoption, getting through the process of bringing a child home, and the care of a such a child. We will next discuss the day-to-day issues of raising an HIV+ child.

Below are some details that I received from the IRS relating to the adoption tax credit. Documents substantiating the adoption or attempted adoption are required to be attached to the taxpayer's return. Acceptable documents are identified in the September 2010 guidance and in IRS publications. In addition, the IRS may ask for proof of expenses […]

Many families are now choosing to adopt children who are HIV positive. The children can come from any country, but the majority of HIV positive children come from Africa.  About 3 million children in sub-Saharan Africa are infected with the HIV virus, and 90% of all children with HIV come from this region. Because of […]

Saturday, May 7th, the day before Mother’s Day, is National Birthmother’s Day, a day to honor the millions of brave and loving women placed their babies and children for adoption. So how we can as adoptive parents honor our children’s birthmothers? It need not be very complicated. Just talking about the birthmother, sharing her name and […]

This year's World Malaria Day theme---"Achieving Progress and Impact.” According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention http://www.cdc.gov/Features/WorldMalariaDay/ , the goal is to reach zero deaths by 2015. That is quite a goal to reach in just 4 years because every 45 seconds a child dies from malaria. In Uganda alone, malaria kills about […]