Adoption is metamorphosing into a radical new process that is both sweeping the nation and changing it. But this process is not an easy one, there are many steps to go through. Through research it is made a lot easier. Adoption is a also a highly visible example of a social institution that has benefits from and been reshaped by both the Internet and the exponential growth of alternative lifestyles, from single to transracial to gay. It is accelerating our transformation into a more multicultural society; even as it helps redefine out understanding of "family." The process includes three main steps including a type of adoption, the techniques for location a baby for adoption, arranging a successful adoption, the steps at the hospital, and lastly the legal issues in adoption. There are many types of adoption in California, more then any other in the country. The reasonable amount of time it takes to adopt a child is about a year. "Independent adoption is an alternative to agency adoption and is the means by approximately 85 percent of all newborns are adopted in California. Since that is the most popular that is the type that I am going to concentrate. The reason that it is the most popular is because of four factors. The first is because the independent agency is flexible, secondly it allows the birth mother to personally meet and select adoptive parents, thirdly it allows the adoptive parents to quickly locate the birth mother rather
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then waiting several years for the agency to do it for them, and lastly the child can be placed in the home of the adoptive parents immediately after birth instead of waiting in a foster home. By law the birth mother must personally place the child with the adoptive parents. That does not mean she has to do it physically it just means she must personally select them. The birth mother is permitted to release her child into the adoptive parents custody as soon as the hospital
Cited: Hicks, Randall. Nuenez, Linda. Adopting in California, How to find a Child. WordSlinger Press. 1992. Melina, Lois Ruskai. Roszia, Sharon Kaplan. The Open Adoption Experience. HarperPerennial. 1993. Pertman, Adam. Adoption Nation. Basic Books. 2000.