With the popularity of overseas adoption increasing, potential parents without a famous name need guidance in order to safely adopt a child.
Randall Hicks is an adoption attorney with more than 20 years of experience on more than 900 domestic and international adoption cases. His book Adoption: The Essential Guide to Adopting Quickly and Safely is everything it claims to be.
Hicks leaves no stone unturned, explaining the laws, regulations and necessary documents that adopting parents must be informed on. There are 14 types of adoption, and Hicks explains each one then gives tips including how to select the right attorney or the right adoption agency. One important chapter highlights red flags to be aware of. Most deal with the health and habits of the birth mother but also include other emotional and legal issues.
The final third of the book lays out the laws and contact agencies for each state as well as useful appendices with recommended readings, helpful organizations, publications, Web sites and sample documents.
Hicks writes in a plainspoken, casual manner that removes the legalese but is still able to get down to business and be informative. His experience has given him the opportunity to work with any adoption case imaginable, and he is able to cover many topics with depth and knowledge. This is as much as you can learn about the legal side of adoption without graduating from law school.
Learning how to be a parent is a whole other experience.
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