Book Review: The Complete Idiot's Guide to Adoption

by Pam Connell | More from this Blogger

23 May 2009 11:16 PM

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Adoption is an overview of all types of adoption. Thus it is necessarily light on any one type. While it provides many "real-life snapshots" of various parties involved in all types of adoptions, it is a good general overview for initially researching adoption, rather than a manual I would refer to again and again (as, for example, I do with Real Parents, Real Children, in which I always seem to learn something new that applies to the different stages of life that our family moves through).

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Adoption is written by Christine Adamec, who has written several books on adoption and coauthored the Encyclopedia of Adoption.

The book offers brief advice on a wide variety of areas, such as preparing for a homestudy and introducing your child to extended family. There is a chapter on international adoption, but since this second (and latest I could find) edition of the book was published nearly five years ago, much has already changed-the new restrictions China places on adoptive parents and its dramatically increased wait times, new adoption programs from African countries, and the requirements of the Hague treaty on international adoptions, for example.

Particularly good sections include a brief but insightful questionnaire for individuals and couples to gauge readiness for adoption and questions for judging the quality and purpose of adoption-related Internet sites. Adamec also gives factual descriptions of several adoption scams to be aware of, while rightly pointing out the relative rarity of such events. She also provides information about the role of attorneys and facilitators in privately arranged adoptions.

There is a good resource section at the back of the book containing a glossary of adoption-related terms, a state-by-state directory of adoption attorneys, agencies, state welfare offices, adoptive parent groups, and adoption medicine specialists; and a bibliography of suggested materials for further reading.

Learn more about Pam Connell

Pam Connell is a mother of three by both birth and adoption. She has worked in education, child care, social services, ministry and journalism.

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