Fast Facts about Adoption

I will get more in depth about adoption- but I am going to start with just a few quick facts.

- One in ten Americans has either been adopted, been a birth parent to an adopted child, or an adoptive parent.

- Most adoptions today are "open" or "semi-open," which means that birth parents and adoptive parents share personal information with each other, either directly or through an agency. Anonymous or "closed" adoptions have become increasingly rare.

- The first step for someone who is pregnant and thinking of giving their child up for adoption- if she doesn't already know someone who wants to adopt the child--is to contact a state agency and talk to a lawyer about filing the necessary papers. And the baby's biological father has to sign consent forms.

-Sometimes it's not until adoptees hit their teen years that they "find out." Learning that your parents aren't your birth parents after all can be confusing and even upsetting.

-Adoption has been around for a long time. It's mentioned in the Bible, and was not uncommon among the ancient Greeks, Romans, Egyptians and Babylonians.