From Carrie Craft,
Your Guide to Adoption / Foster Care.
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Infant or Older Child

• Explore why an infant or an older child would fit best in your family.

Interracial Adoption

• Do you understand the different needs of a child of a different racial background?

• Are there issues you need to learn more about when it comes to interracial adoption?

The Child's Gender

• Is it important that you already have clothes and toys to pass down from older children in your immediate or extended family?

• Learn if the child has a history of sexual abuse. This is especially important when adding to a family with other children, due to the risk of sexually acting out.
• With teen adoption consider if the child is sexually active and how that would work with a family who has teens of the opposite sex.

Special Needs Adoption

• Do you have family & friends that support your decision to adopt a child with special needs?

• Do you have access to counseling centers if your child suffers from emotional issues?
• Do you have adequate medical facilities in your area if your child has a medical condition?
• What are your current children's thoughts on special needs adoption?
• If your child has a learning problem, is your neighborhood school equipped to handle the issue?
• Can you emotionally handle the day-to-day of parenting a special needs child?
• Are you ready to advocate for the child's needs in his/her school and community?

Thinking ahead and evaluating your own life and family will help you choose the child that will best fit into home.

The next decision in this journey is deciding between a domestic or international adoption?