Customer Reviews

The Chinese Adoption Handbook: How to Adopt from China and Korea

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

 

 

This book has a lot of information, but most of it can be found easily through your agency or through the "Familys with Children from China" website. The book has a lot of great website addresses.

The main issue with this book is that it is very poorly written. With all of the things adoptive parents need to sift through in this process, we certainly do not need to decipher bad grammar, typos, etc. On one page, the author talks about going to Moscow to pick up your child--clearly this was just a cut/paste from the "Adopting from Russia" book he wrote, and no one bothered to proof his work.

This book is a tremendous help if you are thinking about Chinese Adoption. It covers everything from the process/paperwork to what to pack -- things you would not think about packing! It reminds you that this is a lifetime commitment and not just a trip to China. The author also gives you tips on how to move the process along and what pitfalls to look for with both the US and Chinese governments. I highly recommend it.

I really liked this book on Chinese adoptions.The other books are all written from a personal journey point of view and do not have specific information in them. I just wanted something that told me what to expect and how it all works and this book did that.The sections on Guangzhou and White Swan were exactly right.

I think the other reviewer might be talking about an older version as the one I read was the 2004 book.

This book is to-the-point lawyerly advice about adopting from China. Maclean writes very litle about Korean adoption (as the title even indicates). If you've looked into Korean adoption at all, you know at least as much as this book covers, and that Korean adoption is quite different from Chinese adoption. However, if you are considering adopting from China, his step-by-step information about the process makes this book well worth it. And much of it applies to international adoption in general. Maclean starts at the beginning of the paperwork process, and continues throughout your trip to China. Included is information about possible medical conditions, typical age-appropriate weight/height/development and what one might expect to see after orphanage, foster care, or care with little (or good) cognitive and physical stimulation.

I recommend this book (and, yes, he is a bit funny), but read others as well. Maclean gives different advice about certain things than do other authors. My husband and I liked this aspect to use as a comparison to others. It gives us the opportunity to see that not everyone views/does every element of the process the same way nor offers the same advice. We can take what is applicable to us from each how-to style adoption book we read.

Nitpick: while I applaud the author for self-publshing, he could use an editor. Too often, information is written then a few paragraphs later the identical few sentences appear. Worse, Maclean contradicts himself by stating at the start of the book that you should pick your agency last--e.g., after the homestudy--then later on describes the agency you've chosen as performing the homestudy, thereby creating the need for choosing the agency first.

Ultimately, I'd give "The Chinese Adoption Handbook" three and a half stars -- four for its comprehensive information, but it loses credibility due, perhaps, to poor editing... but I am left wondering how accurate some of it is. Knowing, as well, that Maclean adopted his children from Russia, I wonder if the information has been gleaned in tidbits and applied to the Chinese process or if he really has taken part in Chinese adoptions.

Update 7/06 -- We ended up finding this book FAR more useful than I would have anticipated. Maclean's advice throughout the entire first half, the "US Paperchase," was very helpful each step of the way. I had pages bookmarked at each juncture we approached (researching agencies, the homestudy, etc).

Great book and very informative. Author uses wit, which keeps the book flowing. Read this book first time from the local library and new I had to own it. The book will be going with me when I travel to China to pick up my new daughter.

I had to do a double take when looking at the title. Since when are China and South Korea's governments, let alone cultural distinctions, the same? The title heading ("The Chinese Adoption Handbook: How to Adopt from China and Korea,") is like a bad infomercial where they try to sell you "two for the price of one." Get one Asian country, get another even though it's not remotely the same... okay the same as the United States is to South America, but you see my point.

When reading the reviews about cut and paste from Russian adoption guide books and bad editing, I couldn't help but notice that this author looks like he's horribly trying to jump on the "how to" bandwagon of international adoption, which is precisely the thing most supporters of international adoption would cringe at the thought of this procedure to be anywhere close to "bandwagon."

I ask as one of the international adoption supporters to not buy this book. If you can't even separate two distinctive countries, what insightful information could you possibly give a couple wanting to seriously approach international adoption and raising an interracial child?