Customer Reviews

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Adoption, Second Edition

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

In many ways, this book is better than all the overly earnest or psycho-babbly pastel-covered books available on adoption. In keeping with the "Idiot's Guide" approach, this book is reader-friendly, breezily-written, and full of info. I'm most impressed with the inclusion of unsentimental, nuts-and-bolts subjects like financing, avoiding adoption scams, and state-by-state adoption rules.

This book is chock full of information on every aspect of adoption, including domestic, international, older child, special needs, transracial, state regulations, single parents, etc. I love it! My adoption counselor even bought a few copies for her office library!

If you are just thinking of adopting and have no idea where to begin, this is a great book. It gives details about many different types of adoption. It could really help you decide whether to go through government agencies, private agencies or international. If you have already narrowed your scope, then it is better to get a book specific to the type of adoption that you are pursuing, otherwise there will be many chapters of this book that you will skip.

When beginning our adoption process this book was a life saver! It helped us figure out which adoption journey was best for us and explained each part of the process. It is an easy read and a perfect place to start when researching adoption. I have referred it to all my friends that are considering adoption and they have all raved about it as well. I referred to this book all throughout our process. It was definitely the best book I bought on adoptions. We are now the proud parents of a little angel from Russia and are currently waiting for another angel from Russia. If you're in the process of adopting, either domestically or internationally, buy this book, you'll be glad you did!

As a newly adoptive parent, I look back on our adoption journey, and this book was where we first started. Because the volume of adoption information available can be overwhelming, this book covers the basics and will help to introduce you to adoption and guide you in an adoption process that is right for you.

I don't know what my husband and I would have done without this book. All of our fear's about adoption it eased all our fear's. And had answer's to all the questions we had. This book is the Adoption Bible.It's up to date on everything .

Adoption has changed a lot since I wrote the first edition of Complete Idiot's Guide to Adoption in 1997. Which is why if you want to adopt a child, you need to buy the second edition, published in 2005. ISBN: 159257274X

Rather than save a few bucks by buying someone's old used copy of the book, get the latest information! Would you make other life-changing decisions by relying upon outdated information? Adoption is definitely a (wonderful) life-changing decision.

I have completely updated the book, including the latest information on adopting babies and older children in the U.S. and other countries. I have info on using the Internet, affording adoption, avoiding fraud and much more and have updated my state-by-state adoption law chart.

I wish you success in adopting!

Christine Adamec
Author of CIG to Adoption

This was a good and quick read over the generalities of the adoption process. It discussed the many faces of adoption (domestic/international; open/closed; the "nontraditional" adopter), the process (choosing an agency/private attorney), the homestudy, where to find the resources (some unexpected) to fund your adoption, the adoption laws within each state (including adoptive parent and birthparent rights), how to "meet" the birthmother, and what happens after bringing the child home (getting ready for his/her/their arrival, adoption "rituals" as they grow, explaining adoption to your child, behavioral problems that may be encountered). As I said, this is a good "general" book. I also found it focused more on domestic versus international adoption as a large portion discussed feelings that may be experienced by the birthmother (which will apply to int'l as well) , finding a birthmother, choosing open/closed adoption, and if an open adoption just how much contact is warranted, and what happens if she changes her mind. Even with this part of the book (as we are doing international adoption), the information was very concise and worth the time and money.

We really were uninformed about the world of adoption. Being a person who researches everything, I purchased a handful of books on adoption. As I trudged through most of them I became even more overwhelmed. In the end, this was the only book I found completely helpful and referenced it many many times during our adoption journey. In a nut shell, it is easy to read and covers THE most essential 'need to know' information on adoption, such as, different types of adoption, where to begin, how to select an agency/attorney, how to avoid scams, and most importantly, how to avoid incompetent and unprofessional agencies/individuals (very valuable!). Since adoption laws vary from state to state, this was a very helpful resource because it lists some critical adoption laws by state, such as, revoke periods and birth father rights. Although they don't advocate any particular method or agency, they do provide private and government resources and websites, which I found helpful. We now have our beautiful son, who is almost a year old (we adopted him at birth). Thanks to this book, we were fully prepared for the journey and it made it the most pleasant, wonderful one ever because we were fully prepared. But, if you're like me, you'll buy all the other books just in case, and find that this one was the only one you actually needed. I highly recommend this book.

The year was 1998. Bill Clinton was president and financial prosperity was enjoyed throughout the nation. And the Idiot's Guide to Adoption was written. It includes helpful charts from 1997, text about the tax credits, as they existed in 1997, and an enjoyably retro celebration of AOL. I was frustrated by this book after assuming, admittedly foolishly, that the book would be updated to its 2005 republishing date. I have not read the entire book, but the first five chapters appear untouched from its original version. The only advantage of this is the irony of the paragraph explaining to the reader that when it comes to adoption, you must purchase the most recent book you can, a few year old if necessary, but never more than a decade old.