Adoption Nook

Adoption adds its own twists to keeping a business alive, or to getting it going in the first place. But some adoption costs are high, and extra money is often a necessity. Use this information to earn temporary money to cover fees, or to establish an ongoing source of income. Practical non-business info also.

Tips for getting over the bumps.

Business Considerations
Suggestions for business choices that allow for flexibility and predictability.

Home Organization Ideas
Organizing your homelife ahead of time, to make bringing a child in or adding a business simpler.

Attachment Issues
Dealing with the disruption, time, and long term reoccurance of bonding issues and behaviors.

Bonding Activities
Simple activities you can work into your life on a daily basis to encourage bonding and trust.

Integrating the Business into the Family
Ways to bring the kids into your activities to foster closeness and ownership in the business.

The Adoption Process
An overview of adoption options and processes.

Business Criteria

Establish the business prior to adoption, or no sooner than 6 months after.

Choose a business that is very flexible, and does not require you to spend large amounts of time alone. Your business should also not have much equipment that has to be restricted from a child...a few items won't matter, but a large amount will be more difficult to cope with.

If your business is running ahead of time, prepare it so that it can operate on a flexible schedule for the time after your child arrives.

Home Organization

Your home needs to be organized ahead of time, so the changes from the child will be the only changes you are coping with. Routines should be planned ahead to integrate the child quickly into the home, but you should also be prepared to adapt those routines as needed to work with the needs and personality of the child.

Scheduled Bonding

Bonding time is so important. You will need to schedule predictable times for your child, and those times will need to be strictly adhered to. You will also need to help the child understand that while you do need to work at certain times, that it does not mean you do not care, and to help them know you are available when needed anyway. This can be a tricky issue with a child who has attachment issues to work out. If you have to choose between the child and the business, choose carefully. Too much indulgence is as harmful as neglect, and no one is more qualified to determine the right thing than the parent, and YOU are the parent.

Adjustment Times

Adopted children go through predictable and unpredictable adjustment times. The first is of course as the child comes into your home, but others occur during developmental stages, and when there are upheavals and changes in the family. Starting a business will create an adjustment time for the whole family, and it is best that it not occur with any other major adjustment periods in the child's life. Your business needs to be flexible enough that you can give more attention during this time to your child.

Integrating the Business into the Family

If the business becomes something that the child can participate in, and is partly theirs, it can help them feel included during times when you have to work. It does not work that way for everyone, but for some, this can be a vital tool in helping the business work along side the family.

Adoption Costs

Adoption costs are a major issue. PLEASE do not begin the paperwork process and get down to a deadline before you figure out where the money is coming from. Yes, we sometimes have to go on faith, but there are people who find at the last minute that they really don't have the money to continue, and it is heartbreaking! Plan ahead, and begin saving from cutting out extras, holding yardsales, working a business on the side, or whatever you need to ahead of time. Because while we'd all like to think that it will all work out right when something so important is at stake, the fact is that often it does NOT. You have no right to ask for a miracle when you have not done your part.