Pastor Claude Thomas Blog

Author: C. Dunn
The adoption process can be complicated and a bit confusing, however, with some thought and organization, you can certainly master it and it is completely worth every ounce of energy you spend.

The procedures you will follow greatly depend on the kind of adoption you’ll choose. If you decide to adopt a child from the United States, you can work with the foster care system, use a private lawyer to create an independent adoption or work with an adoption agency.

Adoption From Foster Care System- A few individuals adopt by first being foster parents. In that way, they can get to know the child before making the decision to adopt and there might be a better chance of adopting an infant. The majority of states require that foster parents go through a training program. After you have a foster child to care for, his or her social worker will keep you apprised of his/her availability for adoption and, if the child becomes available and you choose to adopt, the social worker will help you in filing documents and enduring the court proceedings for a legal adoption.

Independent Adoption- Should you prefer to adopt independently, you will contact an attorney who specializes in adoptions. You will work with the attorney to find a potential adoption situation. This may include running ads in local newspapers or utilizing the internet. The attorney will help you meet prospective mothers, discuss an arrangement for adoption and payment and represent you in a court proceeding to make the adoption legal. Parents who want to adopt children at birth often choose this approach.

Agency Adoption- Your first decision will be to select an agency. Then, a social worker will establish whether or not you are qualified to adopt and the chance you have of adopting the kind of child you are looking for. You will then complete a home study and, during that process, you will create a package of information about your family. Once the home study is complete and you are recommended for adoption, the agency will look for a child that is perfect for you. Once you and the agency settle on a child, they will assist you in filing all of the appropriate documents. This approach works well for those who want to have the security of professional assistance.

International Adoption- International adoption begins with selection of an agency that provides an overseas program. You will choose a country for which you are eligible, then you will go through the home study process. When you you have done all this, your information will be sent to the host country and a child will be assigned to you. After you accept the child, you will either go to the country to adopt the child or you can pay an escort service to bring the child to the USA. Couples who may not have a good chance of adopting in the USA (older people, gay couples, single people) and couples who prefer to avoid the complications of the American legal system usually choose international adoption.

The timeframe for adoption depends on the kind of adoption, your circumstances and the state of regulations and intercountry relationships.

Author: Peyton Hines
Any new parent is both excited and scared when they first bring their newborn home. Let’s face it. After nine long months of waiting, or if you’ve waited for an adoption that took a long time to come, you’ve doubtless spent months getting ready. However, even though you’re as ready as you can be, you might also be a bit nervous and even scared. No matter how prepared you are, you can always use a little extra help. So here are some important baby care tips to keep in mind.

Baby Care Tip #1: Bath water temperature

Of course, your newborn’s skin is much more delicate than yours is, so bath temperature is one thing you have to be very careful as in order to avoid making the bath temperature too hot. When the baby first comes home, it can’t be immersed in water for about the first month, so simply give sponge baths at first.

However, once the baby is about a month old and the umbilical stump has fallen off, you can give him or the first bath; of course, you should check with your pediatrician or nurse to make sure just when you can do this. Once you get the go-ahead, though, there are special bath inserts specially made for this purpose that you can put in your sink to lay baby in so that the baby is not fully immersed, but can still get wet enough to be bathed even before he or she can sit up.

In regard to water temperature, test the temperature by putting the inside of your wrist on the water’s surface. Your skin here is very sensitive, similar to baby’s, so you’ll be able to test the temperature based on how the baby will actually feel it. The water itself should feel room temperature against your wrist.

Baby Care Tip #2: Swaddling your baby

Of course, newborn babies will be very sensitive to cold temperatures, since they’ve been in a nice warm uterus for the past nine months. Therefore, tiny babies should be dressed relatively warmly. In addition, it may make your new baby feel much more secure to be swaddled. Swaddling simply means that you wrap the baby snugly (but not too tightly) in a blanket so that he or she feels securely encased, similar to how he or she felt in the womb.

In addition, this can help the baby stop crying. Remember that crying is the only way for a very new baby to communicate. So if the baby is crying, it may not mean that he or she is hungry or has a dirty diaper that needs to be changed. It may simply mean that he or she does not feel secure. By properly swaddling the baby, you can help him or her feel much more secure.

Need more information?

If you need more information, no doubt you can ask your pediatrician or other health professional for more advice. However, simply asking other, more experienced parents what they have done in similar situations will give you valuable advice. The Internet is also great way to look for more information; there are also many self-help groups for new parents out there. If you’re a new parent, don’t worry. Pretty soon, you’ll get the hang of it and be giving advice of your own to others.