Customer Reviews

Adopting in America: How to Adopt Within One Year

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is so easily understood that I was not able to put it down and read it in two nights! It gave me so much information that I needed to feel confident in my knowldge of adoption, especially open adoption. There is a whole chapter that lists all the states with adgencies, adoption attorneys and helpful information regarding adoption in each of those states. This is a book to have as a reference throughout the adoption experience. Although I read the book from the library, I plan to buy my own for reference. I think anyone considering adoption should read this book over and over again!

This is one of four how-to adoption books my husband and I bought in our plan to start an adoption. It was BY FAR the best. It was clearly written and laid out the information just as I would have done. The amount of detail was increadible, as no other books came close. We loved the step-by-step approach, and the insightful tips the author gave on finding a qualified agency or attorney, and how to eliminate the ones to avoid. He bluntly says what others seem to hesitate to do. He is an adoption attorney himself, and his tips are great.

The first half of the book was a wonderful step-by-stop approach, from basics (meeting a birth mother, networking, finding an agency or attorney) to technical things we need to know (birth mother consent laws, spotting risky adoptions, federal legal issues which can sometimes affect state law - in general, how to protect yourself).

The second half was a state-by-state review of each state's unique laws. It also listed each licensed agency in that state, as well as adoption attorneys and their bios.

This book was GREAT! The best part of all... We found our attorney through advice in this book, and she turned out to be great. We found a birth mother through the advice on networking in the book. Our son was born July 2, 2002 and we will soon be finalizing our adoption!

Randall Hicks book is written in an informative way- but maintains a warmth towards the many emotions involved in adoption. I used this book as a guide for our own adoption and it helped me through many of the issues- from the beginning decisions surrounding the type of adoption process we wanted- through the final court date. The legal advice is accurate, but the advice surrounding the emotions on both sides of adoption is invaluable.

As soon as I read this book, I wished I was the type of customer who sent back books of little value. We have just began the process of adoption and we are exploring the different avenues available in domestic adoption so I thought this book would be helpful, but instead I found the same information I was able to obtain in less than one day at the computer, by entering "Adoption" in my search engine. The chapter containing the laws of every state was concise and puts it all in one easy package but I am not sure if that is enough to make this worthwhile. The book also lacked any real material on the homestudy process, what you might excpect from agencies versus attorneys versus state agencies, and the pros and cons of each. So if you are completely new to the process of adoption, want the facts and nothing but the facts, are pretty sure that you want to use an attorney and conduct your own search for a prospective birth mother, then this book is for you. If not you might want to look elsewhere

This book, despite its unfortunate cover art and title, is full of valuable information written in straight-forward manner. It is unburdened by emotion and agenda found in many adoption books -- Hicks takes no sides and displays no politic. Although he doesn't present his material alongside weighty psychological information, "Adoption in America" is not detached nor condescending. It's the facts, well-written and well-organized. It's got a wonderful state-by-state list of agencies and attorneys and each state's general adoption laws. Note that the book focuses on domestic adoption, and more on independent [or private] adoption than it does on agency adoption. I, personally, would remove "how to adopt in one year" from the title; the book has enough power in its information to stand well on its own whether you adopt in a year, five years, or not at all. It's a good, solid, informative guide that takes no sides and leaves no emotional blame. It's a valuable source of information. I recommend it.

I recommend this book to EVERYONE who approaches me for adoption advice. In sticker-shock after visiting several non-profit adoption agencies, we were pretty hopeless and willing to try anything. He made so much sense! We followed his recommendations and were over-the-moon adoptive parents in 13 months. Not only that, we weren't dead broke. His advice is so right on. If you want to adopt and think you can't, read this book. Then pass it along. (And thanks to you, Mr. Hicks.)

We used this book to create a profile letter and to guide us through finding places to distribute it. We bought a mailing list from a vendor in the book for part of our mailing, but extended our list to all members of our church, other area churches, agencies, doctor offices, pregnancy related centers, etc we could find. We sent out about 1500 letters with multiple copies of the profile letter for the recipients to distribute.

We were connected with a birth mother through this process within about 6 months and used a local adoption attorney to arrange the private adoption. Then 6 months after our son was born, we were contacted by another birth mother from the same profile letter, a year after we had sent it out. We adopted a wonderful daughter at birth through this second connection.

I've found this book very helpful in deciding which path to take with adoption. It explains the different types of adoption, and goes in depth with one method for independant adoption. The author even gives you an idea of what some of the costs will be. The author lists laws and procedures for each state, as well as a listing of adoption lawyers and agencies for each state.

We read this again and again when we have questions - give information state-by-state! Good job, Randall!