Adoptive Family Articles

After Adoption:
The Need for Services
The National Adoption Information Clearinghouse factsheet "Adoption and the Stages of Development: What Parents Can Expect at Different Ages" discusses stages of child development in general and the adoption-related issues associated with each stage. The factsheet introduces the concept of postadoption services and explains that adopted children, as they grow and mature, sometimes need help resolving the sadness they feel about not growing up with their birth parents. Adopted children who were adopted when they were older, who were adopted after they experienced abuse or neglect, or who were adopted from another country may have other feelings and behaviors that sometimes become difficult for families to manage on their own.


Tips on Selecting an Adoption Therapist
Adoption is an event that has a life-long effect on everyone involved. Adoption brings unique rewards as well as challenges to families, and sometimes families will need or want professional help as concerns or problems arise. Timely intervention by a professional skilled in adoption issues often can prevent issues common to adoption from becoming more serious problems that might be more difficult to resolve.


The Value of Adoptive Parent Groups
Parenting has often been called the most complex profession. It becomes even more so when the family includes a child who has been adopted. This is true whether the child is an infant, has special needs, or is of a different race or ethnic background. ...


Impact of Adoption on Birth Parents: A Factsheet for Families
This factsheet discusses some of the emotional issues that parents face after making the decision to place an infant for adoption, in surrendering the child, and in handling the feelings that often persist afterwards. In addition, it addresses some of the emotional issues of parents whose children are permanently removed from them and whose parental rights are terminated. This factsheet may be a helpful resource for birth parents, as well as family members, friends, and others who want to support birth parents. ...


Impact of Adoption on Adopted Persons
As discussion of the adoption process becomes more open and accepted in American society, and as more Americans have experience with adoption, there is also more attention focused on those involved in adoption—the adopted person, the birth parents, and the adoptive parents (often referred to as the adoption triad or, more recently, the adoption constellation). People who have experienced adoption firsthand are coming forward to talk or write about their experiences, and researchers are conducting scientific studies to find out about the impact of adoption on all members of the adoption triad.


Adoption Services

American Adoptions provides adoption services in all fifty states. We work with couples who want to become a mom and dad through adoption. We work with women who are facing an unplanned pregnancy and wish to give their child a better life through adoption. We also work with adoptee and biological parents who wish to reunite.

Selecting a Home Study Professional

A home study is a review of you, your spouse, and anyone else living in your home. A home study is required for almost every adoption. It highlights items such as relationships, interactions with children, your neighborhood, and your childhood. Initially, the home study process frightens some families until they actually complete one.

Deciding On a Domestic Adoption Professional

Since there are over 3,000 domestic adoption professionals across the United States, choosing which to use for your adoption can be a very challenging decision.

Questions to ask so you can accurately compare American Adoptions to other professionals.
How many adoptions were completed in the past 12 months where they located the birth mother?


Reflections: An Adoptive Mother Shares Her Insights into Raising an Adopted Child

The following is an interview with Cheryl, a mother who adopted her son, Garrett, with American Adoptions 10 years ago. Cheryl reflects back on her own adoption journey, as well as what it’s really like to raise an adopted child.