Soul of Adoption

Adoption and fostering are very personal experiences to all involved and what we all go through is as individual as each person is.  No two experiences are exactly the same to the last detail although our experiences can be similar in many ways.

The forums are specifically for adoptees, adoptive parents, parents of origin, foster carers, former foster children, extended family, partners, potential adoptive parents and potential foster carers.  However anybody with a genuine interest may join on the conditon that respect is shown at all times.  If you are a social worker, work for the media or adoption and/or foster care professional please be honest.       

If you are an expectant parent considering your options you are more than welcome to join.

The boards have been made private so to view them you need to register.
 
Forum Rules:
Members that claim to be an adoptee/original parent/adoptive-foster parent or fostered adult/former fostered child, or partners/family of person/s connected with adoption and/or foster care in their profile and on their posts and it is later discovered that they are not who they say they are with regards to their connection to adoption and/or fostering, have their membership deleted and their IP address banned.

Members that intend on joining our site purely for the purpose of spamming and/or advertising and/or posting pornographic material will also discover their membership will be deleted and their email addresses and IP addresses banned, just like the one we have just banned, so be warned, be warned also that you do not have to post for us to see your IP address, we can see your IP address when you are viewing as a guest even before you log in.

No vulgarities, obscenities, name-calling, character assassinations or mockery are allowed on the forum. While there are appropriate adult topics, the vocabulary used needs to remain family friendly.

No personal attacks or flaming of any kind. You are welcome to disagree with a member, but calling them names or flaming their character is not allowed. If you have a personal issue to discuss with a member, please take it off the boards and discuss via email.

Please refrain from intentional derailment of threads. If a thread is too heated for you to take part in, simply do not participate. However, ruining it for others simply because you don't feel you can respectfully participate in the thread is not fair to those willing to discuss an issue. If you feel a thread violates the forum rules, report the post to a moderator for review.

Please remember that all members are allowed to read on any forum regardless of their affiliation with the site. Keep this in mind when starting threads and respect that perhaps those on different sides of the triad etc. can read and post.

Moderator's decisions are final and are not to be debated at any time. Please remember that there are often behind the scenes details that you are not privy to. Certainly you can question or comment on a decision directly to a moderator, but remember, it is not up for debate. We will not engage in a debate over decisions.

E-mails, which are exchanged privately, are not to be posted on the forums without the consent of all parties involved. Discussions stemming from the topic of an e-mail conversation are fine, provided the above rules are followed.

Under NO circumstances are harassing, vulgar or threatening emails permitted. If you receive one, please forward it to a moderator for review.

Quotes from threads, other than the one being posted to is not allowed without permission from all users involved. This includes the person being directly quoted as well as anyone else they have quoted in that post. Links to other threads, unless done to mock or attack another member, are allowed.

When posting articles or news reports, please remember to give credit where credit is due. Include the byline, article and URL where the information is posted.

Please respect other members. If you can't do that, put the member on your ignore list and go on your merry way. Continual harassment can be grounds for banning.

When a thread is closed, the topic is closed. Creating another thread to continue the discussion after a moderator has closed a thread will result in moderator action.

Posting links to offensive material/anti adoption sites, pornographic sites, etc. is not allowed under any circumstances. Ignorance of what is housed on the home page or deeper within the site is not an acceptable excuse. Make sure that anything you post to the forums is suitable for a family site.

Posting links to retail (adoption or non-adoption related) sites is not allowed. You are free to share the name of the company, but you cannot post the URL.

Asterisking out curse words in order to get your point across is not an acceptable way to bypass the Forum's auto-moderating of offensive words. Please share your thoughts, opinions and feelings in a way that doesn't require the use of curse words. We realize that sometimes there just aren't words to convey how you are feeling and you might say it's truly one of those @#(*$&9)~*&#% days today? but saying "That guy is such a @#($*&@" is? clearly indicates a bypass of the forums auto-moderating system and is not allowed. Similarly, spelling out auto-censored words with symbols is not acceptable.

Posting identifying information that is not your own is not allowed. Full names, birthdates and other personal information of persons other than you should not be included in posts as it may not be their wish.

If you are adopting from a public or privatised foster care system, either domestically or internationally, please remember to respect the foster parents privacy by not posting their identifying information openly on the forums.

Remember that moderators are volunteers. It is impossible for them to view every post made to the forums every day. Don't assume because action hasn't been taken that the post is ok. If you see a thread that violates the Forum Rules, report it to the Moderators for review.

By using the forum, you agree to all rules that apply. This forum is for you to learn from and enjoy, but not at the expense of others. Have fun, but be respectful and play nice!

In your use of these forums, you agree that you will not post any information, which is vulgar (except as allowed above), harassing, hateful, threatening, invading of others privacy, or violates any laws.