Adopt A Child

When adopting a child, most people in the adoption community may assume this means a child over 2 years of age. More often than not, it also means you're adopting domestically from the foster care system. However, many children are also available for adoption via international agencies.

To adopt a child, prospective adoptive parents are required to pass a home study. Before applying with agencies, they may want to first look through local and international photolistings to see the kind of children available for adoption and decide on the kind of child they're looking for. Photolistings can also help put adopters in contact with agencies or vice versa.

Adopting a child through the foster system may sometimes require an adopter to foster the child through a fost/adopt or legal risk program, in which a child likely to have his or her parents' rights terminated will be placed with a potential adoptive family until the family can legally adopt him or her. This also helps determine whether or not a child can adapt to the new home. Foster children have usually had tough lives and traumatic pasts that brought them into the system. These children may also have special needs that can be physical or mental disabilities or behavioral issues.

International child adoptees may also have special needs but may additionally need help learning English and integrating into the American culture. Often, parents of international child adoptees are asked to preserve the child's sense of self-identity.