Different Adoption Practices

There are three general adoption categories. These are private adoption, public
adoption, and international adoption.

What is a public adoption?

Public adoption is a type of adoption wherein a natural parent puts up his or
her child for adoption through the use of a public agency. Alternatively, the government
may also take away custody of a child for his or her natural parents, especially
when the parents are incapacitated physically or mentally. Because of the circumstances
that surround the public adoption process, the children here often have many unresolved
emotional and mental problems. Most children in the public adoption process are
also older than those available in the private adoption process; about age five
and above.

What is a private adoption?

Private adoption is a type of adoption wherein a biological parent decides to
put up his or her child for adoption, but wants to retain influence over who the
adoptive parents are going to be. Private adoption is usually carried out through
personal advertisements. Prospective parents place an ad for a child, and the natural
parent can respond, making his or her choice based on the characteristics of the
potential adoptive parents. Private adoption is usually resorted to by teenage mothers
who do not have the capacity to support their own child. If this is the case, the
adoptive parents usually will take care of all the costs connected to the birth
and legal transfer of the child.

What is international adoption?

As the name implies, international adoption is a type of adoption wherein adoptive
parents find a child originally from another country. This type of adoption has
a strong humanitarian component, as many children outside the West lack adequate
food, clothing and shelter. While a bit more expensive than the other adoption modes,
more people are looking into it as time goes by.

Jeanette Pollock is a freelance author and website owner of
justadoptiontips.com.
Visit Jeanette's site to learn more about

adoption practices.