Adoption Answer Book Book

Introduction -

SECTION I: Assisted Reproduction

Chapter 1: Understanding & Evaluating Reproductive Technologies -
- Understanding Your Condition
- What Technology Can Do for You
- What Technology Cannot Do for You
- Understanding Terminology
- Finding Medical Professionals You are Comfortable With
- Success Rates
- Your Right to ART
- Initial Visit
- Setting Limits
- Privacy
- Your Rights as an ART Patient
- Weighing Technology vs. Adoption
- Weighing the Use of Donors
- Ethical Considerations
- HIV and Assisted Reproduction
- Dealing with Risks
- Fertility Specialist Questionnaire

Chapter 2: Coping with ART -
- Deal with Emotions
- Making Time for ART
- Keeping Your Relationship Stable
- Live Your Life

Chapter 3: Affording Fertility Treatments -
- Insurance
- Thinking About Costs
- Medical Spending Accounts
- Financing Fertility
- Taxes

Chapter 4: Fertility for Singles -
- Finding Medical Providers
- Discrimination
- Considerations

Chapter 5: Gay and Lesbian Assisted Reproduction -
- Finding Doctors and Clinics
- Legal Parents
- Discrimination

Chapter 6: Insemination -
- Laws
- Types of Sperm Donors
- Legal Parents
- Future Considerations
- Choosing a Sperm Bank Questionnaire

Chapter 7: Egg Donation -
- Finding a Donor
- Donation Process
- Cost
- Agreement
- State Laws
- Legal Rights
- Future Contact with the Donor
- Ovarian Tissue Donation
- Choosing a Clinic Questionnaire

Chapter 8: Embryo Donation -
- Finding a Donor
- State Laws
-Costs
- Agreement
- Issues
- Privacy
- Clinic Evaluation Questionnaire

Chapter 9: Surrogacy -
- Laws Concerning Surrogacy
- The Legal Process of Surrogacy
- California Procedure
- Surrogacy Programs
- Finding a Surrogate on Your Own
- Surrogacy Agreements
- Payment Issues
- Insurance Coverage
- Problems with Surrogacy
- Other Steps to Protect Yourself
- Choosing a Surrogacy Program Questionnaire

Chapter 10: Emerging Technologies -
- Nuclear Transfer
- In Vitro Maturation
- Cytoplasmic Transfer
- Cloning

Chapter 11: Cryopreservation -
- Contract
- Cost
- Divorce
- Death of a Parent

Chapter 12: Raising an ART Child -
- Explaining Things to Your Child
- Coping with Other People
- Medical Information
- Helping Your Child Locate His or Her Donors or Surrogates

Chapter 13: Moving from Fertility to Adoption -

SECTION II: Adoption

Chapter 14: Understanding Adoption -
- Legal Effects
- Birth Parents' Rights and Roles
- Extended Birth Family
- Legal Process
- Making the Decision to Adopt
- Preparing for the Adoption Rollercoaster
- Preparing for the Future

Chapter 15: Adoption Decisions -
- Open vs. Closed Adoption
- Domestic vs. International Adoption
- Agency vs. Private Adoption
- Finding and Choosing an Agency
- Finding and Choosing an Attorney
- Facilitators
- Affording Adoption
- Agency Evaluation Questionnaire
- Attorney Evaluation Questionnaire

Chapter 16: Adoption Procedures -
- Home Studies
- Consent
- No Consent Needed
- Notice
- Timing of Consent
- Consent Procedures
- Revocation
- Adoption Court Procedures
- Postplacement
- Birth Certificates
- Adoption Financial Credits
- Family Leave
- Insurance and Planning for the Future

Chapter 17: Second-Parent Adoption -
- Deciding to Adopt a Stepchild
- Qualifications to Adopt
- Notice or Consent
- Preadoption Procedures
- Second-Parent Adoption Process

Chapter 18: Domestic Agency Adoption -
- Public Agencies
- Agency Liability
- Private Agency Adoption
- Interstate Issues
- Ethnic Concerns

Chapter 19: International Adoption -
- Choosing an Agency
- Choosing a Country
- Choosing a Child
- Dealing with Paperwork
- The Process
- Dealing with Immigration
- Citizenship
- Readoption
- Changes in Adoption Law
- Forms Checklist for International Adoption
- International Agency Questionnaire

Chapter 20: Parent-Initiated Adoption -
- Adopting Independently with an Agency
- How to Find a Birth Mother
- Facilitator
- Advertising
- Choosing a Birth Mother
- Contact with Birth Mother
- Payments
- Counseling
- Waiting for Your Child to be Born
- Paperwork
- Adjustment Period
- Choosing a Facilitator Questionnaire
- Potential Birth Mother Questionnaire

Chapter 21: Single-Parent Adoption -
- Considerations for Single-Parent Adoption
- Bias Against Single Parents
- Home Studies
- Laws Governing Single-Parent Adoption
- Protecting Your Family
- Raising Your Child

Chapter 22: Gay and Lesbian Adoption -
- Single-Parent Adoption
- Second-Parent Adoption
- Couple Adoption
- International Adoption
- Finding Gay-Friendly Adoption Agencies
- Raising an Adoptive Child

Chapter 23: Coping with Adoption -
- Dealing with Reactions to Adoption
- Dealing with Others Involved in Your Case
- Dealing with the Waiting
- Dealing with Doubts
- Changing Your Mind
- Taking Time Off for Your Adoption
- Bonding with an Adopted Child
- Dealing with Adoption Disappointments

Chapter 24: Raising an Adopted Child -
- Celebrating Your Adoption
- Breastfeeding an Adopted Infant
- Talking to Your Biological Children about Adoption
- Raising Biological and Adopted Siblings
- Talking to Your Child about His or Her Adoption
- Keeping an Adoption a Secret
- Cultural Heritage
- Medical Issues
- Postadoption Support
- Finding Birth Parents

Epilogue -

Glossary -

Appendix A: Resources -

Appendix B: Forms -

Index -

About the Author -