Everything You Need to Know To Adopt A Child

Are you ready to adopt? Should you wait for a newborn or consider adopting a toddler? Domestic or international? Independent or agency?

These are just a few of the many questions that hopeful parents face before the adoption process even begins. It’s no wonder then, that as exciting as the prospect of adoption can be, many parents find themselves overwhelmed and stressed out before their adoption ever even gets off the ground.

Enter Laura Beauvais-Godwin and Raymond Godwin and their book, The Complete Adoption Book: Everything You Need To Know to Adopt A Child. In this valuable resource, the authors explores the many, many aspects of the adoption process, taking you step by step through the maze of paperwork, planning and preparation.

Starting with a basic overview of how adoption works today, the authors delve into the various types of adoption and encourage you to explore your own expectations about adopting a child.

Are you ready to accept the challenges of adoption? This book can help you find out. Using a friendly yet straightforward manner, Godwin and Godwin offer clear, upfront advice about what to expect and just how stressful it might be.

In this must-have resource, you’ll learn:

• The pros and cons to an identified adoption
• Adoptive parents’ rights: what they are and how to enforce them
• How to choose the right agency for you
• How to locate a birth mother
• How the laws protect birth fathers in adoptions
• Tips for single parent adoption
• And so much more

The book covers a broad range of topics in the adoption arena including special considerations for gay and lesbian couples and international adoption for U.S. citizens who live abroad. You’ll find information about all your options when it comes to adoption plus state by state requirements for completing the process. The authors walk you through the home study, so you know exactly what to expect and how to prepare. You’ll find contact information for agencies and adoption attorneys plus information on support groups to help you with your post-adoption adjustments.

Learn about adoption networks and exchanges, how to work with the social services system to adopt a special needs child and tips for talking to your child about his or her past and how he or she came to be adopted.

While there are many books out there on the subject, The Complete Adoption Book is perhaps the most complete of its kind. This comprehensive resource will enable hopeful parents to be better prepared as they begin their own adoption process.