International Adoption Handbook: How to Make Foreign Adoption Work for You

For anyone involved in, or thinking about, adopting a child from abroad, this is an essential guide. The process of international adoption can sometimes seem complex, frustrating, and endless. This step-by-step guide, which provides the necessary hard facts and information - as well as support through the experiences of the author and others - will help smooth the way. After a general discussion of who may adopt and what restrictions may apply, the book goes into the nitty-gritty of what the process entails: choosing where to adopt and how to go about it; using an agency or a facilitator; initiating the home study; assembling a dossier; working with the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service; knowing the types of expenses that can be anticipated; and many other issues. In addition, the book provides up-to-date information on resources, including what is available today on the Internet, information that was previously difficult for adoptive parents to find out on their own. Equally informative are the author's interviews of a number of adoptive families whose stories are interspersed throughout the book. These households, from countries around, the world, reflect the diversity of adoptees and their new families, and, by sharing their experiences, they help to make the process work for others.