Before you make the decision to adopt it's wise to know how adopting will affect your daily life. How will it affect your other children and your marriage? What will be the roll of the birth parents? Here are 15 important questions - and answers - to help you make the right choice in adopting. Includes questions for discussion and reflection - ideal for personal or group study - and additional recommended resources.
In North America, more and more families are adding members through adoption. And there are more ways to adopt—and kinds of adoption—than ever.
This quick–start resource will help prospective parents consider key emotional and spiritual issues up front...before they plunge into the near–overwhelming mass of details and start to run into roadblocks, even dead ends.
Laura Christianson—an adoption educator and mentor, and an adoptive mom herself—brings her experience and knowledge to address unspoken but crucial questions about...
- loving an adopted child
- extended family’s reaction
- expenses
- openness in adoption
- the role of birth parents
- physical disabilities
- emotional/behavioral challenges
- racial and cultural prejudices
Recounting real–life miracles and mishaps of adoptive families, the author will help prospective parents—and their friends and family members—think through adoption’s challenges and joys, and confidently move forward from a firm emotional and spiritual footing.
Author: Laura Christianson
Located in: Seattle, WA
Submitted: August 30, 2007
Tell us a little about yourself. I am an educator and a journalist who loves to collect and share people's stories. I'm a Christian who has a lifelong friendship with God and His word.
I am the adoptive mom of two rambunctious boys (now ages 15 and 11) whom my husband and I adopted when they were newborns.
In my spare time, I'm an avid blogger; I write the award-winning Exploring Adoption blog.
I love to walk, rollerblade, swim, and hang out with my family.
What was your motivation behind this project? I wanted to write an entertaining, yet practical book that addresses many of the insecurities and questions parents have before, during, and after the adoption process.
What do you hope folks will gain from this project? I hope "The Adoption Decision" encourages adoptive parents and their supporters to prepare their minds and hearts for the unique challenges and joys adoptive parenthood presents.
How were you personally impacted by working on this project? "The Adoption Decision" contains anecdotes from my own family, as well as from more than 40 others whose lives are directly impacted by adoption.
As I researched and wrote this book, I was struck by how narrow and limited my own perspective on adoption is. I learned so much from the people I interviewed, and I gained a much greater appreciation for the unique ways in which God works through all families.
Who are your influences, sources of inspiration or favorite authors / artists? My sources of inspiration for this book were friends, friends of friends, fellow writers, participants in our church's infertility and adoption ministry, and my extended family.
Dozens of people were so willing to discuss the tough parts and the joys of adoption with me. It is such a privilege to share their stories with a larger body of readers.
Anything else you'd like readers / listeners to know: "The Adoption Decision" is not written from a clinical perspective. Nor is it a one-size-fits-all "how to adopt" manual.
My premise is that every child is unique; every family is unique. I hope that parents will use the "ah-ha" moments they have while reading this book and apply what they're learning in ways that work best for their family.
I love reader feedback -- feel free to e-mail me via my Website, www.laurachristianson.com.
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