Adoptive Parent

As an adoptive parent, you've been given the chance of a lifetime to adopt and raise a child and begin a family.

Adopted infants are preferred by first-time parents because they feel they can control the child's environment and have the full parenting experience. While this is true, parenting in an adopted family differs from that of biological families regardless of how much or little the child knows of his or her biological parents. You'll need to gauge the best time to tell your child that he or she was adopted and you'll need to be willing to answer any questions he or she have, even as they get more difficult over time.

Adoptive parents will also need to make sure they set a good example when it comes to language about adoption. Using positive terms for sensitive topics, such as "birth parent" in lieu of "real parent." It's even more important for parents in transracial families to be positive and open by cultivating an environment that allows an adoptee to explore his or her ethnic identity.

Being an adoptive parent is something that at least 85 percent of people surveyed in 2007 by the National Survey of Adoptive Parents said they would definitely do again and are content with the home life they have with their child - only a small percentage of parents said they wouldn't make the same choice. For those parents, there are plenty of adoption forums and support groups that can help make difficult situations, where a child has a disorder or behavioral problems, easier to handle.