Adopting On Your Own The Complete Guide to Adoption for Single Parents [Paperback]

The first guide of its kind, covering all stages of the adoption process

Adopting on Your Ownaddresses the questions and concerns of prospective single parents. Lee Varon, a practicing therapist specializing in adoption counseling and the single mother of two adopted children, helps readers make an evenhanded assessment of whether adoption is right for them, then leads them through the different stages of arranging and financing the adoption. She weighs the advantages of open versus closed and international versus domestic adoption for the single parent, and demystifies potentially daunting steps such as choosing an agency and preparing for the home study.

Adopting on Your Ownalso offers up-to-date information on the latest developments in interracial adoption policy, the legal rights of gays and lesbians to adopt, and the evolving attitudes of agencies and social workers toward single-parent adoptions. Throughout the book, Varon draws on personal anecdotes and the experiences of her clients to offer honest, insightful advice on every step of the adoption process.

Lee Varonis a social worker with a Ph.D. in social welfare policy and the co-director of the Adoption Network, a counseling and referral agency that focuses on single parents. She lives with her family in Cambridge, Massachusetts.