For an adoptive parent, National Adoption Month is a time to celebrate the beauty of adoption, while recognizing that it’s a lifelong journey. Adoption doesn’t end when a child comes home; it continues through every stage of life, bringing with it questions, struggles and moments of deep connection.
Children who were adopted may seek answers about their past and connections to their heritage, and as parents, we don’t always have them. This uncertainty can be difficult, but it’s part of the journey. Having a strong support system, like Lutheran Child and Family Services of Illinois, was invaluable to us. You need someone to provide guidance and a safe space to ask questions before, during, and long after the adoption process.
We also need to remember that adoption begins with birth parents making a difficult and selfless decision. So we want to encourage our community to please treat everyone connected with the adoption process with respect. Don’t make assumptions or offer unsolicited advice. Some adoptive children might be eager to explore their past, while others may feel content in the present. Some families may face more visible struggles, while others quietly work through challenges behind closed doors.
No two adoption stories are the same, and every family’s experience is unique. What’s important is that we commit to honoring that diversity and treating every family with the care and compassion they deserve.
Tiffany and Jenna DeRiggi-Werdell, adoptive parents, Ravenswood
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Stop whining over city budget
Dear lord. The new tax hike being proposed to help Mayor Brandon Johnson balance his budget would mean someone who owns a half-million-dollar home has to pay a whopping $40 more a month? So, two Uber trips.
The horror. Grow up and wake up Chicago. The budget is floundering. Time to suck it up.
Mark Weiher, Chicago
Budget proposal is Johnson’s latest blunder
Mayor Brandon Johnson says a huge property tax hike is a must. Yet after he declared a freeze on hiring, as reported, he hired hundreds, gave out raises, wants to give more raises, 4% to 5% to teachers, etc. Then he says if he doesn’t get it, layoffs and furloughs would be unavoidable. You see how he feels about the ordinary Joe. Remember, he even cut ShotSpotter, even though it helps saved lives.
He has been deceitful, arrogant and a bully. Next!!!!
Barbara Czarnecki, Portage Park
Lower speed limit could harm environment
Before we lower the speed limit on many Chicago streets, has anyone considered the environmental effects that would have? Creating more traffic jams and forcing drivers to wait even longer in line at red lights with their engines running will burn more fossil fuels and create more pollution, without, I believe, making anyone safer.
Advocates of the lower speed limit need to provide a lot more evidence that doing so will do any good before we do something that will certainly do so much more harm.
CR Green, Uptown
School libraries are essential
I am sure the usual anti-union suspects will decry the Chicago Teachers Union’s initiative to have libraries and a librarian in every Chicago public school. There is a mountain of scholarly inquiry and evidence to show how important school librarians are and how much value they add to the education of students of all ages. In Chicago in particular, the provision of adequate libraries and school librarians is an obvious matter of social justice. Not supplying them is letting down already disadvantaged children and robbing society of the value of educated, literate, empowered products of public education.
Michael Gorman, past president, American Library Association, River North
Puerto Rico diss can’t stop the ‘othering’
During Donald Trump’s recent rally at Madison Square Garden, one speaker said that there was an island of garbage floating in the ocean and “I think it’s called Puerto Rico.” Needless to say, this is completely consistent with the Trump campaign’s ongoing efforts to insult and demean people it defines as “others” and therefore not equal to whoever they define as “real Americans.”
I happen to be a “real” American. I was born in Chicago. Three of my four grandparents were immigrants who came to America from Greece, Poland and Slovakia. My fourth grandparent was born in America, but his parents immigrated from Italy. Some of these people were once also considered “others” by ignorant people already living in America.
I am an American of mixed ethnic heritage. Today, I would like to add Puerto Rican to that mix. I want to proudly stand with all people of Puerto Rican descent today, because we are all Americans, no matter what the ignorant haters may say.
Todos somos puertorriqueños!
Bob Chimis, Elmwood Park
Neighborly love
No matter who we vote for in this election, let’s not forget that we are all neighbors. If you need help, I help you. If I need help, you help me. It’s the American neighborly way — period!
Joseph J. Zefran, North Park