Adoption Rules

Life may be a game to some, but everyone knows there are very few rules to understanding how to "beat it" or "win." As with most other things in life, there are few, if any, adoption rules.

An agency may have regulations on its applicants. For example, the adopters may need to follow a certain faith, be of a certain age or marital status. But agencies don't run the game as much as they set their own guidelines or house rules to what they feel is the best way for children to be placed for adoption. Every adoption must adhere to the federal laws of adoption. Every adopter in America must pass a home study and finalize their adoption in a U.S. court. This is true for international adoptions as well. These require more paperwork than domestic adoptions, but must also meet both countries' legal restrictions. Countries can also become Hague certified, which indicates that they are dedicated to ethical adoption practices.

Some adoptions require special treatment, like that of a Native American adoptee. In the mid-20th century, about a third of the Native American youth were adopted by Caucasian families who raised the children in a setting that did not cultivate their heritage or a sense of identity with their racial and ethnic roots. Today, it's strongly encouraged that adoptive parents of Native American children give their child frequent opportunities to interact with their original tribe and community. This is also the case with many international adoptions in which a child originates from a unique place that may be hard to identify with once in America.