Excerpted from AdoptingOnline.com: Your # 1 Guide to a Successful Adoption

(American Carriage House Publishing, ISBN: 0-9705734-1-3)

by Mardie Caldwell 

• Learn all you can from books and the Internet about adoption and parenting. You may never again do something so important.

• Decide which type of adoption is best, and write out a clear and logical adoption plan. Review and revise your plan as you pursue your goal of adopting a child.

• Don’t become obsessed: shut down your computer at a reasonable hour. Get your rest, eat well, and take time to appreciate your life.

• Be realistic and honest when you evaluate your finances and work out your adoption budget.

• Be diligent in taking care of each job your adoption professional asks you to do.

• Be calm each time you face another stack of paperwork.

• Assess your emotional readiness, and that of your family, to adopt.

• This can be a stressful time for your children. They need their mom and dad. Tuck them in at night; tell them how much you love them.

• Be patient, remembering that it takes nine months to have a baby the old-fashioned way and your adoptive child may not even be conceived for months.

• Be prepared for the process to take several years if your specific requirements for a child limit the number who will become available to you.

• Get involved, online and in real life, with other adopting families for emotional support and to enhance your parenting skills and the quality of your adoption experience.

• Use the Internet to network with people who can help you in a big way.

• To relieve stress, visualize holding your child in your arms, knowing that when you actually do, your fears and anxiety will drift away.

• Know that adopting is like being pregnant. A wife may experience hormonal changes and both partners may experience fears and sleepless nights.

• Lean on each other and share the vision of your child out there. Your love will grow as you work together to realize your dream.

• Pray

• You wouldn’t stop searching for a child lost in the forest, so do not give up on finding your adopted child.

For more information about adoption, please call 530-432-7373

Or visit Adopting Online