Section 6: Step by Step
One of the biggest reasons there are still so many children waiting to be placed in families is that many of the people who consider adoption decide not to follow through with each step in order to make it happen.
According to 2002 data, nearly 56 million women reported considering the adoption of a child; 27 million of them were not married. But of those women, only 1.1 percent had actually adopted and only 3.4 percent had taken steps to adopt. Less than 1 percent of women (or about 300,000) were currently seeking to adopt and had taken specific steps to do so.
In this section we will walk you through the many steps involved in the adoption process, including:
- asking yourself the questions to help you decide what is the right path for you.
- becoming familiar with the many kids waiting for families;
- picking your agency;
- being educated about the costs involved with types of adoption, and how to finance it;
- preparing for the home study;
- consulting with a pediatrician experienced with adoption.
And finally, we end the book with a compilation of some of the programs that consider single women for their children who are looking for families, as well as pictures of some of the families you read about in this book.
Recommended reading for further research is listed in the back.
