It's hard to believe that some people believe your sexuality is indicative of what kind of parent you will be. Have you seen these horrible parents who are card-carrying members of the heterosexual crowd? So it's way overdue that Florida allowed same-sex couples to adopt children. (The ruling came in 2010.) And the first gay couple to adopt in Florida, Randy Vosburg and Nick Santamaria, have brought 7-year-old David home and into his new family. And that is one lucky little boy.

Because you won't believe the fate of other children in foster care.

When actress Katherine Heigl starts talking about adoption as though the whole world should be following that route, it sounds like a nice idea. Just imagine a world where no child went without a permanent family, no would-be parents went without a baby. And yet, what sounds good in concept never quite works out that way in the real world, does it? Not everyone can adopt ... or can they?

Adoption is a tough road even for the families who choose it. But even coming from a family full of several relatives who were adopted in, I don't think anything has driven the difficulty of the road home to me quite like the creative fundraising efforts of one North Carolina mom blogger trying to raise money to bring home her baby girl.

As if the Amy Winehouse tragedy couldn't get any more tragic, the tortured singer was in the process of adopting a 10 year old girl from the Caribbean island of St. Lucia. She had already gotten permission from the girl's parents, and prior to her death she was planning to return to the island soon to finalize the process. How sad that Winehouse had a longing to be a parent. How sad that this impoverished little girl's hopes and dreams have now evaporated. But is it any sadder than what this girl's future might have held for her if the adoption actually went through and she found herself the child of a mother with a severe addiction? Love is essential but a child needs more than that. The girl was only trading one form of misfortune for another.

So Denise Richards had a fabulous, beautiful baby shower this past weekend in honor of her newest daughter, Eloise, who she adopted last month. Much like other fabulous baby showers there was food, gifts, flowers, and fun for everyone. Unlike most baby showers, however, Richards threw this one for herself.

You would think some of her fancy famous friends who were in attendance, like Tori Spelling, Lisa Rinna, and Nancy O'Dell, would have stepped up and thrown one for her, but whether they offered or not, somehow Richards took the reins and did it herself. At first it made me sad to think that she had to do it, and that maybe no one considered doing it for her since it is her third baby and all, but upon further consideration, she just may be onto something here. While traditionally it would be considered one big gaffe, throwing your own baby shower could perhaps be the best thing ever.

Think about it ...

I used to be biased against adoption. Intellectually, I loved the idea, but emotionally, I could not wrap my mind around it, despite the fact that my own dad basically adopted my older sisters and feels as connected to them as he does to me.

It was those stories that worried me. The ones in the sad memoir The Girls Who Went Away, about young women forced to give up their babies because they didn’t have the option to keep them. The stories of adult adoptees, heartbroken because their birth mothers wouldn’t reciprocate when they tried to make contact. It seemed like even when adoption went well, it involved terrible suffering at its core.

My friend Suz adopted her two children in a very, very different way. She used open adoption, which keeps her in touch with her children’s biological family. The idea was mind-boggling at first, but her family is the best ad ever for open adoption. So I interviewed her about how it works for her family.

Grey's Anatomy could have ended the season last night. We had everything that makes a great finale. A tree growing in a guy's lung (for reals, yo!). A pregnant mama whose baby grew in her intestines instead of the usual place. And a bunch of Seattle Grace residents thisclose to the decision of who will be the new chief resident.

But the fact that there's one more episode left for us is good news people. Because the more episodes, the more Mer/Der adoption details we're going to get! Come on, folks, how can you look at baby Zola and not swoon?

As you may know, Angelina Jolie has a string of six tattoos on her arm -- each one represents the longitude and latitude of the places where her children were born. Now a seventh one has been added, and people are freaking out wondering if while over in Tunisia, she and Brad Pitt decided to add to their family and have adopted another child. Some are even suggesting she may be pregnant, though that would be a pretty big risk to ink a birth location before the baby is born.

The speculation about another adoption, however, isn't completely unwarranted, especially in light of the tattoo, as Jolie has made comments recently that she is "always open to children around the world." She did add that it wasn't what they "are focusing on at this time, by any means," but that, of course, means nothing in cagey Hollywood baby speak.

While a source told People, "all adoption speculation is false," why else would she add another tattoo?

When David and Thelma Ward had their taxes prepared, they had no idea they were about to receive a windfall of $54,000. In fact, this couple that lives on $39,000 a year were rendered speechless when H&R Block called to give them the news. 

The Wards have six adopted children*, most with special needs, and for the first time they were eligible for the federal adoption tax credit. Like many tax breaks, you have to actually make enough money to receive the benefit. So for the past few years, the Wards weren't able to take the tax credit. But a new, and much more sensible, change was made to the federal adoption tax credit this year that does not require you to owe taxes before receiving the refund. (Thank you Affordable Health Care Act!) So the one-time tax credit of $13,170 becomes a real cash benefit instead of an imaginary number that doesn't mean anything to working class people.

It's about time.