An Adoption, Six Months Later

From the New York Times Motherlode Blog:

Over the past year, many of you have come to Motherlode to share your stories or ask for advice. Since the New Year is a time to look back before looking forward, I touched base with many of those whose lives have been glimpsed here in 2009, asking for news. I’ll share what I learned in posts over the next few days, so keep checking back for more.

When we last heard from Jenny Staff Johnson, she was about to board a plane in China and bring her new daughter back to Houston. The story of Rosemary’s adoption was happy news to many readers — a chance for an older special needs child to get the spinal surgery she needed, and for a family of four to become a family of five. There was criticism too, of Jenny — for wanting a girl, for giving her an American name, and for adopting internationally, not domestically — and of the American foster care system, for making international adoptions easier than domestic ones.

It has been six months since Rosemary joined her new family. I asked for an update and Jenny sent a lovely essay, about what it means to bond with a child, any child, and become a family.

Read more online at: http://parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/30/adoption-six-month-later/