How To Adopt A Child

Essential reading for those currently adopting a child, thinking about adopting a child, or simply interested in the subjects of adoption and parenting older children, this concise handbook provides a unique perspective on the difficult and wonderful adventure of parenting older children. Based on both her professional experiences and her experience as an adoptive parent, Melanie Tem’s This Child Is Mine: What It Means to Adopt a Child introduces readers to “claiming,” the important process by which a parent says, once and for all, "This is my child." Illustrated with fictional vignettes inspired by her experiences with hundreds of parents and children, she illuminates the key issues that come up with children and their adoptive parents. The late Melanie Tem was not only an award-winning writer of fiction but a social worker in adoption for decades. Her paper “The Leap of Faith” has been used around the country for training prospective adoptive parents and professionals in the field.

Domestic or international? Baby or older child? A child with special needs? The number of decisions you will need to make when deciding to adopt can at times seem overwhelming. The Everything® Parent’s Guide to Raising Your Adopted Child offers all the information any potential or newly adoptive parent might need. Parenting expert and adoptive parent Corrie Lynne Player has interviewed hundreds of adoptive parents and presents a cross-section of age, ethnicity, and cultural backgrounds to help you make the most informed decisions. This essential guidebook is packed with reassuring advice on how to handle the most common issues, including: -Questions to ask before adopting -Bonding techniques for each age group—from newborn to teenager -Adopting children with physiological or psychological special needs -Adopting outside your ethnic group -Navigating international adoptions -Fielding difficult questions about your adopted child’s birth parents -Helping your adopted child cope with feelings of loss and abandonment With this book by your side, you will bond with your child for a lifetime!

The ideal first book for prospective adopters. When you decide to adopt a child, you might assume that all the important work begins when the child comes to live with you. In fact the preparation stage before is crucial in ensuring that the adopted child will arrive to a safe and secure family. Preparing for Adoption provides clear advice on how to prepare for you adoptive child and create a strong foundation for a healthy and loving relationship. Julia Davis explains how many different factors can shape preparations for adoption, such as finding out about your child's history and using this information to establish a family environment which will meet your child's specific attachment needs. There is also advice on how to prepare your home to create a sense of safety for your child and how to prepare your family to support you as adoptive parents. Primarily for adopters, foster carers and professionals supporting adopters, this book offers ideas and strategies to help parents prepare a happy and settled home for children before their arrival and ways to parent them in the early days of becoming a family that addresses their attachment needs.

Why was I abandoned? Why did my parents adopt me? What if I want to meet my biological parents? Children who find out they are adopted have many questions that are difficult for a parent to answer. This book explores children's thoughts and feelings and provides parents with guidance on how to respond to difficult questions. The author covers all the common questions that children ask and provides sensitive, candid answers in a way that children will be able to understand and relate to. Each chapter is devoted to a particular issue, such as why a child is adopted, who chose the child's first name and what happens when the child grows up. The book recognizes the emotions and reactions of everyone in the family and includes separate conclusions for parents and children. This handy guide offers useful advice for parents and will also be of interest to counsellors and other professionals working with children.

There are many children who needparents.This book will show you how to find the child who needs you--whether you are single, infertile or medically prohibited from having a child, or just looking for the boy or girl you've always wanted.Author Jorie Kincaid is an adopted child herself, and she and her husband, Ron, have adopted children both domestically and internationally. In this practical guidebook she provides all the information you need to decide whether adoption is for you and to begin working through the adoption process.You'll find out how adoption works both domestically and internationally, learn the differences between open and closed adoption, and explore the steps you can take to make adoption permanent. Kincaid offers advice on special adoption needs for older children and children from other countries, cultures and races. She also helps you wrestle with ethical questions like "When does adoption become 'buying a baby'?"If you are considering adoption or if you are already in the midst of adopting a child, here is an encouraging and helpful resource you'll turn to again and again. If you're curious about whether adoption is right for you, here is experienced counsel to help you make a wise decision.

What about the kids already there? How do they do when a child with a challenging past joins a family by adoption? When experienced parents decide to adopt an older child or a sibling group, they jump through all kinds of bureaucratic hoops â?? background checks, interviews, group meetings, reading assignments, classes, etc. But most often the typically developing children these adults are already parenting (whether through birth or adoption) are left out of the process, informed that a new kid is coming, and simply expected to â??adjustâ?? to the addition of another sibling. The addition of a child with a history of neglect or trauma cannot be a seamless transition. The expectations of everyone involved â?? parents, new siblings, and, yes, professionals facilitating the adoption â?? must be realistic, taking into account that the new child will need special attention that may take away time and attention from the already resident kids, that family life is likely to be turned topsy turvy until appropriate counseling and support are in place, that relationships will change. Therapist Arleta James is certainly not the first person to recognize this, but she is the first to do something about it. Brothers and Sisters in Adoption offers insights and examples and sturdy, practical, proven tools for helping newly configured families prepare, accept, react, and mobilize to become a new and different family meeting the practical, physical and emotional needs of all its members. These well prepared and supported families are the ones who thrive!

The go-to guide for everything you want to know about international adoption From the initial decision—Is adoption right for you?—through returning home with your child—How can you ease the transition?—The Complete Book of International Adoption takes parents step by step through the entire process of adopting a child from another country. You will find: • An easy-to-understand analysis of the differences between domestic and international adoption • Advice on choosing a country, including 25 important factors to consider, such as the waiting times involved and the estimated costs for each of the top placing countries, with charts for easy comparison • A detailed discussion of the potential health issues based on the latest research and interviews with doctors who specialize in international adoption • Worksheets and a suggested system for preparing and organizing the extensive paperwork involved • Parenting tips to enhance attachment and suggestions for addressing the issues that come up in raising an internationally adopted child • Real parents’ stories and advice at every stage of the process • Plus all of the information you need to select your agency, plan financially, prepare for the home study, travel sensibly, evaluate your child’s health and integrate your new family More than just provide the facts, The Complete Book of International Adoption also helps parents manage the emotional rollercoaster that comes with the territory. Sensitive, wise, and often witty, this book is a must-have for any parent considering building their family through adoption.

How do adoptions really turn out? How do adopted children feel about the family they were given and the opportunities they were offered? To what extent do they fulfil their new parents’ expectations of them? And does it matter whether their adoption grew out of a fostering relationship or was considered right from the start as a permanent arrangement? Originally published in 1980, the major follow-up study on which this book is based sought to answer these questions. The research involved 160 sets of parents and over 100 of their adopted children, now young adults. This was, in fact, the largest group of adult adoptees anywhere in the world to be interviewed and studied in a systematic way. As they look back over their life together, the parents and the young people explain what adopting or being adopted was like for them. This title offers glimpses of adoptive family life over a period of more than twenty years, compares the views of the young people with those of their adopters and measures the factors which influenced the various outcomes. Particular attention is paid to the basis on which the child was originally placed, in order to shed light on the controversial subject, at the time, of whether a preliminary fostering period represents a useful safeguard. The information gathered by Lois Raynor and her colleagues provided the feedback so long sought by social work teachers and by those practising social workers who had the responsibility for making long-term plans for children and for approving foster home or adoption applications at the time. Readers with personal experience of adoption will be interested in making their own comparisons, while prospective adopters will learn to avoid some pitfalls and to enjoy an adopted child as their own.