Dear ABC Adoption Agency:

Please allow this letter to serve as the reference letter required as a condition for consideration in the adoption application process for Jane Little, the prospective adoptive parent of Kylie. I understand that Jane was advised today that under current policy, she does not qualify as an ideal candidate due to your agency’s traditional preference for children to be placed in dual-parent families. Therefore, I intend to share my personal knowledge and experiences that will assist you in mitigating the common risk factors known to negatively affect children’s outcomes when raised in single-parent families. Jane and I share an uncommon, yet deep connection to one another, so it is my belief that the resulting closeness we continually developed over the course of the past decade highly qualifies me to serve as her best reference.

First, I must give credit to my dear and elderly grandmother-in-law and her low tolerance to a single glass of wine for my introduction to Jane. During a holiday dinner in 2002, I learned that my newly wedded husband was the father of a boy placed for adoption at birth. Following what I consider to be a justified emotional outburst to that enlightening news, I was determined to locate this child and his adoptive family. I was about to give birth to my own child, a boy, and was now overwhelmed with the responsibility of robbing my flesh and blood of the opportunity to know the existence of his biological brother if I didn’t try to locate him. Luckily, there was enough wine left over that evening to offer Grandma her second glass at which time she easily revealed that the mother of my child’s sibling was Jane.

To this day, Jane freely argues that my affinity towards five-star hotels and fine dining is a waste of money. However, it is my opinion that she has an obsession with organic food of which is