Adoption Process

Please find some of our best articles, essays and reviews on this topic.

For more topics and articles, check out our full listing on our Resource Library.

Pact helps pre-adoptive parents yearning to adopt African American, Latino, Asian, Native American and multiracial children born anywhere in the United States. Gathering information about how the process works is the first step toward becoming the best parent you can be. Topics include information about how to adopt through Pact, stories of adoption, decision-making, understanding birth parents, and legal issues.

If you prefer, you can use our Library Search Tool to search by title or author. All the material in this section is copyrighted by Pact; for permission to reproduce or re-post it, please contact us at education@pactadopt.org.

• 5 Stages of the Adoption Process
  by Pact (2011 | 536 KB | )
  
• A Day In My Life
  by Amanda Kirby (1997 | 66 KB | )
  
• About Concerned United Birthparents
  by Bonnie Bis (1998 | 116 KB | )
  
• Adopting Again: Talking to the Other children in the Home
  an interview with Sharon Kaplan Roszia (2001 | 89 KB | )
  
• Adoption Realities-Myths
  by Pact (2010 | 59 KB | )
  
• Adoption Reversals
  by Michael Trout (1998 | 98 KB | )
  
• Adoption Stories
  by Annette Baran (1998 | 93 KB | )
  
• Adoptism
  by Beth Hall & Gail Steinberg (1995 | 330 KB | )
  
• Adoptive Parents and Expectant Parents Alike: Preparing for a Healthy, Lifelong Relationship
  by Leslie Foge, MA, MFT (2012 | 128 KB | )
  
• African American perceptions of Adoption
  by Azzizi Powell (1997 | 88 KB | )
  
• Agency Assisted Adoption
  by Pact (2010 | 71 KB | )
  
• Arrival Adjustment: The Post-Adoption Blues
  by Patricia Irwin Johnston (2008 | 326 KB | )
  
• Ask Pact: Our Family Doesn’t Want Us To Adopt
  by Pact (2004 | 114 KB | )
  
• Assistance and Tax Benefits for Foster and Adoptive Parents
  by Pact (2011 | 533 KB | )
  
• Bastard Nation - What’s In a Name
  by Damsel Plum (1998 | 121 KB | )
  
• Beginnings
  by Susan Ito (2005 | 88 KB | )
  
• Being a Birth Father
  by David Leymone Jones (2000 | 51 KB | )
  
• Birth Mother Survey
  (1997 | 96 KB | )
  
• Birth Parent Profile - My Secret Life
  Michelle Cabrerra (1997 | 124 KB | )
  
• Birth Parents - Victims of Adoption?
  by Candace Kunz (1997 | 110 KB | )
  
• Bonding and Attachment: How Does Adoption Affect a Newborn?
  by Gail Steinberg & Beth Hall (1998 | 406 KB | )
  
• Book Review: Sam’s Sister
  by Juliet Bond (2003 | 75 KB | )
  
• Book Review: The Third Choice
  by Leslie Foge and Gail Mosconi (2004 | 933 KB | )
  
• Changes in the Open Relationship
  by Candace Kunz (1992 | 95 KB | )
  
• Changes in the Open Relationship
  by Candace Kunz (1992 | 95 KB | )
  
• Choosing Adoption-Understanding Terms
  by Pact (2010 | 89 KB | )
  
• Climbing Mount Adoption
  by Shane Salter (1992 | 320 KB | )
  
• Considering Placing a Child for Adoption: Thank You for Listening & Thoughts on Birth Motherhood
  by Susan Ledesma & Joy Retzlaff (2010 | 310 KB | )
  
• Deciding About Decisions
  by Becca Martinson  (1994 | 96 KB | )
  
• Developing Cultural Competence
  by Linda Whitfield (1995 | 105 KB | )
  
• Director’s Corner: Adoptive Breastfeeding - Pact’s Point of View
  by Beth Hall, Molly Brannigan & Martha Rynberg (2011 | 487 KB | )
  
• Director’s Corner: Aftershocks of the Hatian Earthquake
  by Beth Hall (2010 | 306 KB | )
  
• Director’s Corner: Naming NATE
  by Beth Hall & Gail Steinberg (2009 | 572 KB | )
  
• Does Fost-Adoption Encourage Healthy Growth?
  By Jodee Kulp (1995 | 333 KB | )
  
• Family Resemblance in Transracial Adoption
  by Jana Wolff (1998 | 329 KB | )
  
• Family Stories: Black Enough To Be Your Mother? Too White To Be Your Mother? Becoming Seneca?s Mothers!
  by Pact (2009 | 147 KB | )
  
• Family Stories: Carnegie & Sons
  by Pact (2009 | 130 KB | )
  
• Family Stories: Eddie Junior: Becoming a Family
  by Pact (2008 | 125 KB | )
  
• Family Stories: Juantia, Lucas & LuzMari: Latino Culture
  by Pact (2008 | 123 KB | )
  
• Family Stories: Long Distance Adoption - The McMullens
  by Pact (2009 | 132 KB | )
  
• Family Stories: Surprise Adoption
  by Jill Rege (2008 | 956 KB | )
  
• Family Stories: What Sophia Needed, Open Hearts, Open Minds
  (2011 | 1.85 MB | )
  
• Family Stories: While You Wait -- A Chance to Learn & Grow
  by Pact (2010 | 1,011 KB | )
  
• Family Stories: Zora’s and Ezra’s Families Connected by Blood ... and Love
  by Pact (2010 | 162 KB | )
  
• Film Review: Wo Ai Ni Mommy
  by Michele Rabkin (2010 | 115 KB | )
  
• Fine Tuning Openness: Tools for Managing Relationships Between Birth and Adoptive Families
  by Adele Jones (2004 | 108 KB | )
  
• GenderWars in Adoption ? The Myth of Choosing
  by Pact (2011 | 506 KB | )
  
• How Do We Measure Potential for Success in Adoptive Parents?
  by Beth Hall (2010 | 59 KB | )
  
• I Am an Adoptive Parent to Be -- We Are an Adoptive Family to Me
  by Desiree Corbett Korelich (2005 | 81 KB | )
  
• Independent Adoption
  by Pact (2010 | 199 KB | )
  
• Keeping In Touch
  by Carmen Rodriguez (1995 | 103 KB | )
  
• Latino and Asian Children in White Homes
  by Beth Hall and Gail Steinberg (1995 | 116 KB | )
  
• Laughter, Attachment and Adopting Older Kids
  by Pat O’Brien (1996 | 340 KB | )
  
• Lessons
  by Sharon Kaplan Roszia (1994 | 311 KB | )
  
• Letter From a Birth Father
  by David Jones (1997 | 107 KB | )
  
• Living An Open Adoption
  by Jennifer Ferrara (1997 | 120 KB | )
  
• Losing Lauren
  by Rachel Angeline (1994 | 324 KB | )
  
• Mongolian Spots
  by Beth Hall & Gail Steinberg (2000 | 326 KB | )
  
• Nine and A Half Months
  by Allison Towle (1995 | 109 KB | )
  
• Open Adoption Relationships
  by Becca Martinson (1992 | 111 KB | )
  
• Our International Adoption Packing List
  by Beth Hall and Gail Steinberg (2000 | 109 KB | )
  
• Pact Family Stories
  (2012 | 2.54 MB | )
  
• Pact’s Position on the Multi-Ethnic and Inter-Ethnic Placement Acts
  by Beth Hall and Gail Steinberg (1997 | 117 KB | )
  
• Please Tell Me What I Should Do?
  by Lynn Lape (1996 | 111 KB | )
  
• Promoting Understanding of Adoption Issues
  by Patricia Irwin Johnston (1993 | 337 KB | )
  
• Racial Politics The ?Business? of Domestic Private Adoption
  by Beth Hall, Joe Kroll and Ruth McRoy (2010 | 308 KB | )
  
• Regret
  by Gillian J. Freney (2011 | 121 KB | )
  
• Rosa’s Story: Adoption Then and Now Doing the Right Thing for the Wrong Reasons
  Anonymous (1997 | 85 KB | )
  
• Selecting An Adoption Professional
  by Pact (2010 | 65 KB | )
  
• Supporting Transracial Families: Start From Where They Are
  by Gail Steinberg and Beth Hall (1994 | 99 KB | )
  
• The Body’s Wisdom
  by Carol Schaefer (1995 | 324 KB | )
  
• The Dance of Trust
  by Becca Martinson (1992 | 104 KB | )
  
• The Decision Makers?
  by Barbara Termitiere (1995 | 324 KB | )
  
• The Life Story Book
  by Vera Fahlberg (1993 | 337 KB | )
  
• The Missing Voice in the Professional Community
  by Candace Kunz (1996 | 115 KB | )
  
• The Optimal Adoptive Launch
  by Michael D. Trout (1994 | 346 KB | )
  
• The Primal Wound?
  by Randolph W. Severson (1994 | 336 KB | )
  
• The Rights of Fathers in Prospective Infant Adoptions
  by Jon Ryan (1998 | 117 KB | )
  
• The Role of An Adoption Facilitator
  by Pact (2010 | 64 KB | )
  
• Unconditional Love
  Maria Felipa (1998 | 94 KB | )
  
• Union and Transitions: A Ceremony of Entrustment
  by Rebecca Weller (1997 | 346 KB | )
  
• What, me worry? or How I Learned to Embrace My Inner Worrier
  by Robin Lisa Sewell (2006 | 97 KB | )
  
• Whose Birth Certificate is it Anyway?
  by Pam Hasegawa (1997 | 331 KB | )
  

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