Soul of Adoption Webring

Well I didn't get much accomplished last night, but I did manage to get things set up for the new webring. You can read more about it here. I'm hoping we'll end up with a lot of participation in the ring - the more resources for support we're able to make available, the better. Adoption is a huge issue for people today, and the numbers are increasing. Between the increasing number of adoptees & foster kids reaching adulthood, the birth parents who are finally legally able to search and the number of parents adopting and fostering children growing all the time, that's a whole lot of people who may be looking for support. What I have noticed is that the very best support comes from others who have "been there," wherever "there" might be. I know that my first encounters with other adoptees felt like some amazing lightbulb turning on. They GOT it. I didn't even have to explain it, they just got it. I've seen similar sentiments expressed by parents across the plane.

I also believe that if we are ever going to effect changes in the laws surrounding adoptions, laws which are ALWAYS in the best interests of the child first and foremost, we are going to have to find a way of working together. I'm hoping Soul of Adoption will be part of that.

Soul of Adoption

I'll be using this blog to post regular updates about our progress on the main Soul of Adoption website. The site is still under development though I've gotten quite a bit of it fleshed out. I've also got the discussion forums up, primarily because we'll be using one of the subforums as a space for people to submit their stories. I hope to keep a running record of what I'm doing, how I'm doing it and why I'm doing it - that's what this blog is for. Because it is "personal" so to speak, and not specifically related to the intended content for SoA, I wanted to blog off-site. As time progresses, I'll start setting people up as authors on SoA and we'll have a blog there which relates specifically to the site and our intentions for it.

So that's where things stand right now - take a peek at the site and let me know what you think of it. Let me know what else you think it needs. And go ahead and submit your story if you're ready to!

By the way, I will eventually be setting up a PayPal "donate" button. Why? Because I want SoA to be utterly and completely free of annoying advertisements. If I have to pay for it totally out of pocket I will, and will consider it money very well spent - but I think others may want to support what we're doing. If and when we do get a book put together, we'll stop accepting donations - the proceeds from the book can go into the site. For now, I think the most important thing is to provide a space where EVERY story can be collected and heard - minus the constant advertisements.

As stories are submitted, they'll be divided up by catagories - we want visitors to be able to find stories with whcih they can relate as easily as possible. Of course, I hope visitors will read all the stories, because our voices need to be heard.

I hope you'll add your voice!