When making the decision to adopt an infant an adopting couple will come across a number of agencies willing to help them in their cause. Some adoption agencies deal only with International adoption, others only domestic and there are those that will work with all forms of adoption. Choosing the correct adoption agency for your situation is critical to a successful and speedy adoption process.

The scenarios that could affect whether an adoption ends successfully or with heartbreak are endless. It is key, when contacting and visiting adoption agencies, to ask important questions in order to logically select the right company to work with.

What are the costs?

Although, not important in the scheme of the emotions surrounding the adoption of an infant, different families have different resources and some agencies have different fees for different situations. The one caveat to be ware of is hidden fees; some adoption agencies tack on at the end or during the process of adoption.

Ask up front a detailed list of every possible fee the agency might charge or will charge. This way you are aware of what the final agency bill might be, or what adoption options you may want to or not want to choose. Also, obtain information from the agency representative as to when certain fees are expected to be paid. During the process of the adoption, many agencies expect funds at certain stages of the procedure.

It is also important to inquire about refunds. Some adoption agencies have a no refund policy; others will refund monies depending on what stage the adoption is at and others refund most or all of the costs paid.

What is their experience?

The number of adoptions they perform will also prove to be critical to the success of the adoption process. If the adoption agency handles a mind boggling number of adoptions each year they may not be able to provide the quality of support and service one would expect from an agency. Of course, if this is the case and they employ an equally high number of competent associates.

On the flip side of over extending themselves, some adoption agencies do not perform enough adoptions per annum to accrue the kind of experience needed to be able to offer the proper advisement when out of the ordinary circumstances occur. It should be realized, however, that some agencies pride themselves on the fact that even if they do not perform large numbers of adoptions, they provide a higher quality of support.

When discussing the experience of a particular agency, ask for references. Even though privacy is a major concern with most adoptions, there will be a handful of people willing to discuss their experiences with the agency.

What is the average wait time?

For most parents looking to adopt an infant, this is the most important question to ask. Adoptive parents have already made the decision to adopt and sometimes the wait can seem like the most difficult aspect of the entire process.

Most adoption agencies will have this information directly in hand and often take pride in the fact that their wait times are shorter than those of other agencies. However, simply because an agency purports a short waiting period does not mean they are the best adoption agency to deal with.

It is important to not solely base the decision of what adoption agency to choose simply because their wait period is shorter than their competitors. Take into account what steps and procedures each uses, it could be the one agency has a shorter wait time than another because they skip over valuable aspects of the adoption process.

The adoption triad consists of the children who are adopted, birth mothers and fathers and adoptive parents. Even if these three groups never meet together, their lives are bound to one another through adoption. The children are connected to both sets of parents, and the birth parents and adoptive parents are connected to each other through the children. There are joys and sorrows for everyone joined to adoption. Birth parents may miss the child they created, but may also be comforted that the child is being well cared for and loved in her new home. Adoptive parents may be concerned that the child will feel the loss of her biological parents but may be happy to love, care and raise the child. The child may wonder about her biological parents but may cherish and love her adoptive parents. These thoughts and feelings are complicated, complex and lifelong, and are dealt with more easily by some people while others may struggle with them. Each adoption is unique and so is the adjustment to it. But, with love and support, most adoptions are successful at creating loving and stable environments in which children blossom.

Not all adoptions are successful and some people are opposed to adoption, but those who support adoption recognize it as a way to provide children with a safe, stable, and loving home environment. If you are considering adoption, you probably already know some of the challenges. Our society sends mixed messages about adoption. On one hand, you have probably seen or heard public service announcements that talk about how precious adoption can be; what a difference you can make in a child's life. On the other hand, you will see movies or news stories where an adopted child has been in trouble or an adoption was done illegally. Of course, this happens. But, biological children also do horrible things and biological parents sometimes do horrible things to their children. Your decision to adopt should be about your family. Do you want to parent a child and are you willing and able to face the challenges that being an adoptive parent may bring?

These are a couple of very difficult questions that must be answered prior to beginning the adoption process. With the possibility of becoming adoptive parents, there is a responsibility of the highest commitment owed the potential adpoted children. It is critical that you do extensive research on the adoption process, so you can determine if it is truly an experience you can manage. The children must not be given false hope. At this point in their lives, they need and deserve nothing less than complete and reassuring love.

One of the main questions that adoptive parents must ask themselves is can they love a child not born to them? If you read stories and books by adoptive parents, you will find that the majority come to see themselves connected to their adopted children in ways not understood by people who think that a genetic link to their children is the essential tie. Years ago, Cybthia McFadden interviewed Barbara Walters and her adopted daughter about this very issue. Barbara Walters and her daughter were so loving and demonstrated so strongly the power of love as the key to successful parenting. The Lifetime Network had a show called Adoption Stories that profiled families' journeys through adoption. Watching these parents struggle through the adoption process and then watching these parents with their children, you could not help but be inspired. And, these families clearly loved and were loved by their adopted children.These families showed that parenting is a choice and they could easily love a child not born to them. While it might not be for everybody, for most people it is just another way to make a family.

Asking yourself these tough questions is important. For some people, the answers come easily. If you are one of those who know, you can meet a child's need for a family openly and you can help that child as he grows ( and support him if he has questions or struggles about his adoption), your next step is to find an adoption agency that can work with you to help you in this amazing journey.

In the UK, this week is Adoption Week. The one time of the year when all the Organisations and Charities involved in all the aspects of Adoption get together to try and help raise the awareness of what Adoption is really all about.

Now in theory this is all ?fine and dandy? (to coin a phrase) but as with all things (Adoption is no different) there are Winners and there are losers.

Now it may be a crime of immense political incorrectness to look at this way but there really isn?t any other truthful way of looking at it.

It is called the ?Adoption Triangle?, the Holy Trinity of Adoption, The three sided equation but in reality there is more.

On the surface of it there is just the Birth Mother, the adopted child and the Adoptive Parents but would that it was that simple. In reality the adoption triangle involves two families in total. On the Birth Families side you have the Birth Parents (everyone tends to forget about the Father), the adopted child?s siblings (that?s brothers and sisters to you and me) and their Grandparents, Uncles & Aunts etc.

On the adoptive families side there are an equally large number of involved personnel (albeit to a different degree) and these all will have in truth some impact though none fall into consideration when the Adoption is processed.

It sounds cold and clinical to talk of Adoption as a procedure, but that it is what it is. In an attempt to heighten and increase the awareness of Adoption, Organisations involved tend to couch their terms in warm comfortable phraseology that tends to wash over the fact that for every ?warm cuddly adoptive family? waiting to welcome into their arms ?the child of their dreams? their will be sometimes be a Birth Mother who is going to be forever separated from her child.

Now in a great many cases, this entire process is for the better but in the past the separation of birth mother and child has quite often been a forced and painful one and there are very few Birth Mothers in existence today who haven?t thought regularly of the child they had and what could, possibly might have been.

People forget that the role of being a Birth Mother isn?t always filled by the Alcoholic drug ridden typecast incapable young girl, the image so lovingly played upon by some Adoption organisations. Quite often the conception and actual birth of a child is a complete social disaster for a number of reasons some of which lie beyond the control of the birth mother herself. The adoption is a traumatic experience that will leave scars of guilt forever etched in the psyche of the birth mother herself.

It is said that time is great healer but there are some scars and experiences that even time cannot heal.

If you are contemplating adopting a child, you probably already know that this is one of the most important actions you'll ever take in your life. People chose to adopt a child for many reasons. Most commonly, a couple may be experiencing some kind of fertility problems, which make it difficult for them to conceive a child on their own. Some people want to provide a loving home for children that have been removed from their home, family or even their native country.

These are all commendable reasons to proceed with the adoption, but you still need to be aware of some of the decisions and the alternatives you will be required to make throughout the application process.

If you live in the United States you must first decide whether to adopt from within the country or from another nation altogether. Different laws apply to both situations and you will have to study them. In the case of international adoption, US Immigration laws will come into play. It is critical that you know what laws apply in your situation.

Another important factor is what agency, if any, you would like to assist you in the adoption process. There are private agencies and public agencies. If you are adopting internationally you may want to contact an aid organization. Private adoptions are also possible, but again, you need to check carefully into laws before you go ahead.

Age is a big consideration when it comes to children. Since most people want to adopt babies, it may take a long time before one is available to you. The advantages of a baby in most people's minds is that they can instill their morals and values from the very beginning. By the same token if you adopt an older child, it can soon seem as if you had always been together. There is a lot of anecdotal evidence supporting this position. If you decide on an older child, remember that he or she has already formed a personality and behaviors. If you take the child home and then decide it won't work after all, you can cause a great deal of harm to the child's self- esteem.

Adoption is a wonderful choice for people who are biologically unable to have children, or for those who want to invite another child into their family. Be sure to know the laws in your area surrounding adoption, this will help you to quickly find the little person that will become your son or daughter.

About the Author

Susan Kennedy is the chief editor for Adoptions Network, the web's premier resource for information about Adoption, For more articles on Adoption visit: http://www.adoptionsnet.com/articlesYou can get a unique content version of this article.

In the 1950's single mothers had few options if they became pregnant. Often, they were whisked away to homes where they were forced to sign their babies away never knowing who the parents were or given time to see their babies. This causes a surge of adopted children to come back years later looking for their birth mothers or insisting on their rights to their medical and genetic history. There are still many out there searching, trying to find their roots and have some sense of identity of where they came from and who they are.

Open adoption seeks to limit those issues that closed adoption caused by allowing the birth mother to meet and interact with the prospective adoptive parents before and after the birth. Some families are committed to keeping the birth mother involved, in which case, the open adoption becomes a new family arrangement that seeks to put the needs of the child first.

Open Adoption Families Although open adoption only means that the birth mother and the adoptive parents exchange information on themselves, it can lead to other arrangements where the birth mother is more involved. It is understood, however, that the birth mother has relinquished all parental and legal rights to the adoptive family. Thus, the fear that a birth mother will try to reclaim a child is minimal. Some families like to invite the birth mother to special occasions like Christenings. Others even have the relatives of the child visit with the birth mother. It all is a personal choice and is not required in open adoptions.

Open adoption can provide the following advantages to closed adoptions, although each situation is different:

1. Children can ask a birth mother directly why they were put up for adoption.
2. The adoptive parents and children can have access to medical records and genetic information that allows them to keep good health records.
3. Birth mothers have the option to participate in the adoption planning, even getting to choose who the adoptive parents will be.
4. The birth mother can be assured she has made a good decision placing her child up for adoption.
5. The adoptive parents can be screened to meet legal requirements.
6. The birth mother can receive assistance from the adoptive parents before and after the baby is born.
7. The birth mother can request information or on-going contact in the form of letters, pictures of her child, and/or phone calls.
8. The child can meet birth relatives too and thus establish a larger support system wider than their adoptive family.
9. The child knows where they came from and can even be exposed to their heritage and culture through the birth parents.
10. It allows the child to be able to process losses associated with adoption without making it a lifelong quest for truth.

A History Of Open Adoption

Open adoption was prevalent in the 1920's with social agencies not being involved too much. This led to fears that birth parents were advertising their children and placing them in unsuitable homes or selling them outright. The laws for closed adoptions and agency interventions didn't come around until the 1940's and 1950's. Many years later, the fallout from closed adoptions became apparent with many adopted children seeking their birth parents or their genetic and medical history.

Lawyers actually started the movement back to open adoptions by providing an independent agency that would make sure the laws were followed in adoption proceedings and speeding up the adoption process. In many of these cases because it was done in a lawyer's office the parents and birth mother did get to know each other. But, they had high failure rates because of the emotional and social issues of adoption.

By then, the social standards had softened and single mothers no longer were thought of as a shameful secret. Many began keeping their children and fewer children actually were released for adoption. This caused agencies to change so as to meet the concern by mothers that their children were being placed in good homes and would be treated well. If they did not change, fewer adoptions were processed. So, open adoption is becoming more and more the norm. It is a good way to ease the losses of the child, the birth parent, and the infertile adoptive parents and can provide benefits for all.

Unless someone has experienced the entire adoption process firsthand, no one can truly appreciate what is involved in this long haul. Some couples know right from the start that they will adopt. Others however don't begin the application process until after years of disappointment. Either way, the end result ? a beautiful child ? makes the journey all worthwhile.

The gift of a loving family is an immeasurable reward to treasure; but can you think of a more precious material gift to give you child than the entire "birth process" documented in the form of a scrapbook? Once he/she is old enough to appreciate it, this scrap book will be examined time and time again. Start with a heart-felt letter of how much you deeply desired to grow your family; write about the anticipation and the prayers as you waited, and waited some more.

Detail accounts of the application process, the background check, and the home visit. Mark your shopping trips for bedroom furniture and a new wardrobe with photos of the occasions. If it's an international adoption, do a section in your scrapbook on the country of origin. You may want to celebrate the heritage of your child so add thorough detail about the birth country.

An adoption scrapbook is similar to a baby brag book, only it reflects more on the journey, not the end result. It is much like a pregnancy scrapbook. You want to include milestones, victories and disappointments. Any parent of adult children knows the timeline from diapers to graduation goes far too quickly. And while you are convinced you'll remember every detail about the adoption process, the truth is you simply can't remember it all.

The homecoming will be the most memorable event in the entire adoption process. The day you've been waiting for ? in many cases, waiting for years, will finally come to fruition. It will be a banner celebration ? marked by friends and family, balloons and signage and most of all ? lots of joy. Be sure to capture this joyous occasion with countless photos. Not that I needed to tell any proud parent to remember to take photos!

The welcome home celebration will be the final chapter to your Adoption Scrapbook. What may have started out as anticipation filled frustration will be completed with pure bliss. Memorialize this event!

TROUBLED pop singer Britney Spears, who recently lost permanent custody of her two sons, Jayden James and Sean Preston to ex-husband Kevin Federline, is planning to adopt Chinese twins.

Online reports on sites including Showbizspy.com and Britain's News Of The World newspaper, have stated Britney, 25, confided to pals that she's in the final stages of talks with an adoption agency and plans to go ahead with the adoption very soon.

The news of Brits planned adoption comes after Spears former husband, Kevin Federline was awarded full custody of their two sons.

A photographer snapped the Gimme More singer - who still has access to the two boys, enjoying some time with Jayden and Sean at her home in LA on Friday.

Friends of the singer reckon that Britney has elected to adopt the two six-year-old children from China in a frantic bid to fill the void left by losing her sons to K-Fed.

Britney was also banned from driving with the kids in the car after she ran a red light in Hollywood.

And, according to further reports, Britney has also spent $50,000 on arranging her own funeral!

Spears allegedly splashed the cash arranging her funeral because she fears her spiralling lifestyle may lead to an early grave.

Brit's bizarre purchase has left her friends and family worried that she is becoming increasingly depressed and that her unhealthy lifestyle is taking its toll.

A source close to Britney said: "It doesn't seem that Britney has thought this through completely. Adoption and a funeral? The two don't exactly go hand-in-hand.

"Paying for a funeral is a sensible thing to do but not when youre only 25!

"It's a case of too much, too soon with Britney.

"Not a week goes by without something strange happening to her now. She's doing herself no favours.

The pain of giving up a child for adoption can be lessened with open adoption. In open adoption, the birth mother can interview prospective parents and decide who the birth parents will be. The birth parent can be just a single mother or it can include the father in the decision-making. Either way, their one concern is that the baby be placed in an adoptive home where it will be well cared for and have the best chances for its future.

The tools birth parents use to evaluate prospective adoptive parents:

• Resume
• Photos
• Phone Call
• Interview

The Resume

Unlike a job resume the adoptive resume consists less of vital statistics and more of the personal attributes and view of life of the adoptive parents. In it there should be a letter, which should begin "Dear Birth Mother" and indicate why the parents are seeking adoption and their views on open adoption. It should include personal information like the type of neighborhood, hobbies, relatives, education and home life. This gives the birth mother a good idea of how committed the family is to adoption and what types of resources her child will have growing up.

Photos

As corny as the old adage is, a picture is still worth a thousand words. Close-up photos of the birth parent are important, but so too are the pictures of siblings, pets, household, neighborhood, and special occasions. Here a prospective adoptive couple can get very creative in conveying just how wonderful their life is and how they have much to offer an adopted child. The birth mother will want to be able to picture her child in the happy, loving home of its adoptive parents.

Phone Call

Before a face-to-face interview is scheduled, often a phone call is set up by the adoption agency or lawyer. This is usually a conference call and questions are sometimes scripted so that all prospective adoptive parents get the same questions. If the birth mother feels there is a potential match, she can request an interview.

Interview

The birth parent interview with the prospective parents may be held at a restaurant with the prospective parents understanding they are to pay for the meal. The counselor helping the adoption process will most likely also be there. This is the time when birth parents can assess if the family is a really good match with more in-depth questions than what were given in the phone interview.

After this entire process, there are a variety of factors a birth mother will evaluate in choosing the new parents. Many focus on education, religion, and the stability of the home. They prefer to know that their child will have a good chance at being well-educated and that the family doesn't move around too often and the marriage is sound. She will be anxious to know their views on open adoption and how much contact they will allow her after the adoption takes place.

The deciding factor in all these communications can end up being the fact that birth parents are musically inclined, like the birth mother, or have hobbies and skills that the birth mother appreciates. It's hard to tell what will swing the vote, but mostly both adoptive parents and birth mother can tell upon the interview if they are a good match without hesitation.

Another set of factors may be the cultural heritage of the couple or their expressed religious faith. If it closely matches the birth mother's values, the birth mother will know her child is being raised in a similar environment to her own. Language barriers may also be a reason why a birth mother chooses close to her own culture, plus the understanding that the child will have good roots in a family that can support it, but also roots in its ethnicity and people.

There are many ways a birth parent chooses the family for her baby. It is a long and involved process but one that can bring a sense of peace to the birth mother and the joy of a new child to adoptive couples. Establishing good, honest communication during the adoption process between the birth parent and the adoptive parents is a skill they will need to continue on with a process that can last a lifetime.

In the world of International Adoption, Guatemala is one of the most popular and least regulated Countries. Last year there were estimated to have been 1,500 Guatemalan Children and Babies who have started fresh lives abroad, but the spectre of Illegal Adoptions have haunted Guatemala for years. Stories have emerged of mothers being forced to give up their new born children and of a booming private adoption business that has now grown almost into a multi million pound industry.

One of the key questions to look into is, are illegal adoptions taking place and if so how widespread is the practice? Finally, what is in the best interests of the Children of Guatemala? "With Overseas adoption, what is in the best interests of the children of Guatemala?"

Whilst organisations, such as UNICEF, do not claim that all of the overseas adoptions coming out of Guatemala are illegal or abusive, a new report issued from the organisation does highlight the increasing problem of child trafficking.

"Overseas adoption arose directly out of Guatemala?s harrowing history."

Overseas Adoptions and International adoption arose directly out of Guatemala?s harrowing history. The 36 year civil war ? which ended officially only four years ago ? left nearly a quarter of a million dead or disappeared and one million homeless, half of them children.

Elizabeth Gibbons is the director of UNICEF, and a leading critic of adoption as practised in Guatemala:

?Many, many orphaned children were taken into adoption by military officers ? sent into international adoption. Originally a humanitarian activity, but it became obvious that it had the potential for being a lucrative business. And the higher demand in the West ? the more birth control, more access to abortion ? so you have the problem of a huge demand, therefore a supply must be created.?

In recent years there has been a tightening up of controls in many of the major embassies and the UK, US and Canadian embassies now carry out DNA tests of both the birth mother and the baby to check out that the woman giving the baby up for adoption is the real birth mother.

?The existence of DNA doesn?t in any way tell you whether the mother is willingly giving up the child or whether she is being coerced. The second concern is that the children who pass the DNA test are not the same ones who go with the adopting parents on the plane, they could be switched. And thirdly, that the child who is rejected for having a negative DNA result by one of three embassies that offer this test, can then be offered to another embassy with parents of a another nationality.?

'No one respects the law or the state; everybody just does their own thing. And it?s the same with adoptions'

So with all of this abuse of the system going on, why hasn?t the government of Guatemala done anything to stop it. The general consensus is that Guatemala is in chaos with the country, now a fledgling democracy, only just emerging from under the shadows of years of Military rule

Guatemala is a difficult place from which to operate from and it is very hard to know who is in charge of what. There doesn?t appear to be a Minister in charge of Social Affairs and Adoption is very much bottom rung on the ladder.

The Chair of the Commission on the Child and the Family in the Guatemalan Parliament is Nineth Montenegro who is a vigorous critic of her own system and is campaigning to pass the ?The Children?s Code? to protect the rights of the Child in Guatemala explains:

?We?ve been working on it for three years now and parliament still hasn?t passed it. They say, if we try to regulate adoption in this way we will deny children better opportunities in wealthier countries. There has been terrible resistance to the new law. You know Guatemala is a democracy only in name, not a real democracy.

No one respects the law or the state; everybody just does their own thing. And it?s the same with adoptions.?

Part Two of this article will deal with the fun and games (euphemism for hassle) of dealing with Lawyers and Orphanages

Although the decision to give up a child is always heart-wrenching, it can be a "win-win" solution to two painful problems. Adoption is a legal process that gives adoptive parents rights and aresponsibilities and the adoptive child social, legal and emotional rights as a family member.

Putting a child up for adoption allows the child?s birth mother to continue with schooling or career, and she has a chance to create a stable home life before taking on the responsibility of motherhood.

More and more adoptions are including the birth mother as a permanent part of the child?s future, which makes the decision easier for the biological parents, but may make it more difficult for the adopting parents.

Of the approximately 120,000 children that are adopted by U.S. citizens every year, about half are adopted by people who are not related to the child. The other half re by grandparents, step parents, or other family members.

Both biological and adoptive parents should carefully consider the decision. If you are thinking that adoption may be the best solution for your baby, you should decide how much contact, if any, you would like to have with your child in the future. If you would like to stay connected, find an adoption agency that specializes in open adoptions. Find out from the agency or attorney if you will be able to choose your baby?s new parents, or determine their race, age or economic status.

If you want to adopt a child, you will also need to make many difficult decisions, and take a good look at your own situation and expectations. Can you afford a child with special needs, for instance, or would you be comfortable adopting an older child from the foster care system? Some prospective parents believe an older child would bring joy to their home, but others have carefully looked at their feelings, and know they could only bond with an infant.

Parenting does require financial security and a safe, stable home. However, a child doesn't need "perfect" parents and adoption agencies don't make unreasonable requirements. You will not be automatically disqualified if you are single, divorced, parenting other children, or because you have a disability. Some adoption agencies will consider working with gay and lesbian families. You do not need to own your own home or be wealthy or highly educated.

You do need to have tons of love available. A half-ton of patience would help, too.

If you are trying to adopt an infant, especially a Caucasian infant, you may find additional restrictions because of such a high demand. If you are interested in adopting a Native American child and are not yourself a Native American, you may be disqualified. Some agencies encourage cross-race adoptions, while others do not.

Adoption agencies are located in almost every city, and some attorneys specialize in adoption law. Referrals are recommended.

Both biological and adopting parents should carefully research the adoption process before contacting an agency or an attorney. The more you know about how adoptions work, the more sure you can be of having your needs met.

Both biological and adopting parents should also consider finding a support group, so you?ll have others in your situation to talk to. This is one of the biggest decisions in your life, and it?s common to have no family members or friends who have ever made this decision. It helps relieve the stress if you join a group of people who understand exactly what you?re going through.

If you?re a teen mother, or if your pregnancy was unexpected and unplanned, adoption agencies will have many prospective parents on their waiting lists. The waiting time for adopting parents is likely to be much. Since many unwed mothers are now choosing to terminate their pregnancy or to keep the child, prospective adoptive parents can expect to wait up to two to three years.

Biological parents will probably have their medical costs paid by the adoption agency. Adopting parents may find programs that help cover the expense of adoption. The Federal Adoption Tax Credit was $10,630 in 2005. Some employers are also offering financial assistance to adopting parents. Employers may offer loans, family leave, and health benefits.