'They Told Me They Knew What Was Best for Him': Stories From Inside the Child Welfare System

In collaboration with Rise magazine, Jezebel is publishing a series of articles written by parents affected by the child welfare system. This post, the fourth in the series, features narratives by Deborah McCabe and Adisha Garner, two parents who were unable to reunite with their children. In New York City, an…
A Ring of Scammers Is Trolling Adoption Websites and Duping Desperate Couples
South Carolina’s Post and Courier has a bizarre and heartbreaking story today about adoption scammers, who are tricking desperate childless couples and then vanishing. The truly weird thing: some of them aren’t doing it for money, but instead, as the paper puts it, “for the sheer sport of breaking some stranger’s…
Woman Discovers an Old Coworker Is Her Birth Mom
Get ready to cry: TLC has a new show called Long Lost Family chronicling the stories of adults who were adopted as children finding their birth parents. The wildest story comes from a woman who found her birth mother—only to realize she already knew her.
Rosie O'Donnell Talks Openly About Her Sadness Over Estranged Daughter
On October 17, 2015, Rosie O’Donnell performed at the Gotham Comedy Club in New York. But her set was punctuated by a melancholy discussion of her currently estranged daughter Chelsea.
3 Miscarriages and a Miracle
My sore 36Cs are trying to bust out of my bra; my nose has become bionic, smelling toast burn from two blocks away. I am nauseated but starving for oranges. I re-read the section on pregnancy from Our Bodies, Ourselves over and over again, and finally buy a pregnancy test, which confirms that yes, there is a tiny…
Ted Cruz Event Gives 'Courage' Award to State Rep Who Gave Away Adoptees to Molester
Arkansas State Representative Justin Harris, who gave away his adopted daughters to a child molester because he and his wife thought they were possessed by demons, will be given an award for courage at a dinner for Senator Ted Cruz tonight. Harris and a fellow state representative, Charlene Fite, are being commended…
Stop Telling Me and My Partner to Adopt
In March of this year, after a lot of discussion with my partner Charlie, I did something I’d been afraid to do for a long time: I wrote, and submitted for publication, an essay about our year-and-a-half (so far) of attempting to conceive a child. The essay, which was published on BuzzFeed LGBT, prompted not only a…
Gay Couple Who Were Once ‘Father and Son’ Finally Marry
A gay couple who went through an adoption process in order to have certain legal rights were finally able to marry after being together for more than fifty years. While living in New York City in 1994, Norman MacArthur, 74, and Bill Novak, 76, were registered as domestic partners. In 2000, they moved to Erwinna,…
Jillian Lauren On Her New Book, Adoption & Touring With Weezer
Perhaps Margaret Cho said it best when she called Jillian Lauren a “punk rock Scheherazade.” Lauren hit the literary scene in 2010 with the publication of Some Girls: My Life in a Harem, her New York Times bestselling-memoir and, like the legendary Scheherazade, Lauren seems to save her own life by telling fascinating…
Pol Who Gave Away Adopted Daughters Thought They Were Possessed
The Arkansas Times continues to do a stellar job unraveling the incredibly disturbing story of Arkansas State Representative Justin Harris, who gave away the little girls he'd adopted to a man who sexually abused one of them. The Times' newest story reveals there were three children, not two, and that Harris and his…
Pol Who Gave Away Adopted Child Says He's Suffered 'Severe Injustice'
Justin Harris, the Arkansas state rep who gave away his adopted daughters to a man who then sexually abused one of them, would like you to know that he's the real victim here. Through their attorney, he and his wife have issued a statement claiming they've suffered "a severe injustice."
Politician Accused of 'Giving Away' Adopted Child to Sexual Abuser
An intense and disturbing investigative piece published by the Arkansas Times alleges that State Representative Justin Harris, a devout Christian who also owns a religious preschool, gave away two little girls he and his wife had adopted six months before. The little girls were "re-homed" with a former teacher at the…
The 'Orphan' Kim Kardashian Tried to Adopt Has Politely Declined
Pink, the Thai girl who Kim Kardashian wanted to adopt on a recent episode of her show, has spoken out about the internet breaker adopting her and whisking her off to a life of glamour and luxury. Her response to the kind offer? She'd like to visit someday, but, uh, she's not really into commitment right now.