Tuesday, November 02, 2010

Positive Adoption Language

I've found that when I talk to people about our hopes to adopt, there are a lot of language/phrases that are used that convey a negative image of adoption.  Things like "I could never give away my baby" or "Are they your real children?"   No one does it to be hurtful...it is just that they don't know better.  (I didn't know better at first...until I started immersing myself in the adoption world) The list below is a quick, basic list on positive adoption words & phrases that, if used, will help spread a more positive view of adoption.

I got the list above from Adoptive Families Magazine.

1 comment:

Abby said...

I was talking a couple of days ago with the contractor working on our home improvements and he mentioned that he and his wife were having a lot of difficulty getting pregnant and were looking into IVF and adoption. I immediately thought of you and your blog and all of the "Whatever you do, don't say this!" lists started racing through my mind as I tried to find positive ways of talking to him conversationally about the pain he and his wife feel. I didn't say anything for a while because I was searching for the right words to say. I must have looked completely stupid standing there without an intelligent response. But STILL, this just proves that these lists and helpful hints do make in impact on the rest of us. So keep it up (I clearly just need to review them more often or something).