Colleen
For my
master’s project, I plan to write a handbook for prospective adoptive
parents
pursuing an international adoption. International adoptions have
dramatically
risen in the 20th century with the decline in the number of healthy,
Caucasian
babies available for adoption in the United States. In the past
decade,
over 150,000 children have been adopted from foreign countries to
families in
the United States.
The initial thought of pursuing an international adoption is often very
overwhelming for parents to think about. There is a lot of information
on the
internet, but that too can be overwhelming and it is sometimes
difficult to
determine if the information received is legitimate.
In addition
to the stresses of the international adoption process, parents are
often not
prepared for the first few months after bringing home their new child.
This is
especially true of parents who adopt a child from an orphanage.
Children who
spend considerable time in institutions prior to being adopted often
have
medical issues that need immediate attention upon entering the United States
–
malnourishment, lice, parasites, upper respiratory infections, etc.
Additionally, institutionalized children are at risk for cognitive,
social, and
emotional delays and attachment disorders.
International adoption is a major adjustment for the adopted
child, parents, and other siblings in the family. When my family was in
the
process of an international adoption, it would have been helpful for my
parents
to have one place where they could turn to for information about pre-
and
post-adoption issues and lists of quality resources to further aid them
in the
international adoption process.
My vision for this handbook is to be an all-inclusive tool
for adoptive parents to utilize throughout their international adoption
journey; something they can use to feel like they are in control and
not get
overwhelmed with reading dozens of books and searching thousands of
websites to
find what they are looking for. I want parents to first turn to this
handbook
as a guide for what to expect from the time they begin thinking about
international
adoption. This handbook will be a straightforward, easy to read,
informative,
and interesting guide for adoptive parents.
Source of information
The
information I choose to include in my handbook will come from many
sources –
adoption books, reputable websites, academic journal articles, personal
experiences with international adoptions, and adoption magazines. At
the end of
my handbook, I am going to include a list of additional resources
(books,
magazines, websites, etc.) that adoptive parents can turn to for
further
information about specific questions they have.
This is an outline of what I want the handbook to include:
Handbook Content
•
Introduction
letter to prospective parents reading the handbook
•
Table of
contents
PART ONE – “Before You Adopt”
Chapter 1 – How to get started with an international
adoption
•
Legal work
•
What is a
homestudy?
•
How to
research adoption agencies
•
What to
consider when choosing a country
-
Table of
country requirements (parental age, # of children, length of marriage,
etc.)
-
Travel
requirements
-
Cost to
adopt
-
Country-specific
support groups in adoptive parent’s state
-
Nationalities
of other children in adoptive parent’s neighborhood
Chapter 2 – Financing an International Adoption
•
Cost
analysis
•
Financial
assistance available to families
Chapter 3 – Involving Siblings in the International Adoption
Process
•
How to make
siblings not feel left out
•
Should
siblings travel to pick up the child?
Chapter 4 – Travel tips
•
What to
pack for your child
•
Gifts for
orphanage/foster family, interpreters, legal representatives, etc.
•
Importance
of taking photos of child with orphanage staff/foster family and photos
of
country
•
Take time
to buy souvenirs from country so child will have tangible items from
birth-country
•
Know
customs of country visiting (i.e. don’t take photos of children on the
streets
in Guatemala)
PART TWO – “After Your Child Arrives Home”
Chapter 5 – Medical issues
•
Issues of
children from institutions
Chapter 6 – Attachment and Adjustment Issues
•
What is
attachment disorder?
•
How to
facilitate secure attachments
•
Helping
your child adjust to a new language and culture
•
Facilitating
bonding between new siblings
Chapter 7 – Celebrating Your Child’s Heritage and Adoption
•
Country-specific
adoption reunions
•
Country-specific
adoption support groups
•
Activities
you can do at your child’s school
•
National
Adoption Day in the United
States
•
Language
classes
•
“Gotcha-Day”
Chapter 8 – Resources
•
Books/magazines/web-sites
•
Financial
grants available for families
•
Adoption/country-specific
toys/books/dolls
•
Adoption
country tours
•
International
Adoption Clinics at pediatric hospitals
-
pre and
post adoption evaluations
-
developmental
interventions after child is home
Evaluation
To evaluate
my project, I will contact several adoption agencies and adoptive
parents and
ask them to read my handbook and complete a questionnaire in order to
evaluate
the usefulness of it. I hope that if the directors of the adoption
agencies I contact
like the handbook, they will want to permanently make it a resource
they give
to all adoptive parents who work with their agency!
I have not yet developed the actual evaluation
questionnaire.