Recently in Adoption Category

The story of 100-year-old Minka Disbrow and her biological child began in the early part of the last century when Minka was raped and had to give up her child for adoption, but the story found a conclusion recently when the mother and daughter reunited, reports the Associated Press.

Disbrow, the child of Dutch immigrants, used to live in South Dakota, where at the age of thirteen, she and another girl were raped by three men. When Disbrow became pregnant she was sent to a Lutheran home where she gave birth to Betty Jane, whom Minka Disbrow ended up giving up for adoption.

The decision to adopt a child can be one of the most rewarding an individual or couple can make. However, it can also be extraordinarily complex. Those who wish to adopt a child must be willing not merely to welcome a new life into their hearts, they must also be willing to deal with legal and bureaucratic issues that can easily take as long as a typical pregnancy.

The key to adopting successfully is to do one’s homework: finding reputable attorneys and agencies, knowing the pros and cons of different types of adoptions, and understanding the need to be actively involved at every step without allowing impatience or frustration to take control.

One of the critical elements of a successful adoption is to know that the party you are adopting is eligible for adoption. Georgia Code Section 19-8-4 states the rules for who can be adopted in Georgia.

Adoption offers children-in-need a chance to be taken in by parents who would like to confer all the rights of a family upon them. Legally, adoption is defined as follows:

Adoption is the legal process pursuant to state statute in which a child's legal rights and duties toward his natural parents are terminated and similar rights and duties toward his adoptive parents are substituted.

To complete an adoption in Georgia you have to follow certain laws and fulfill certain eligibilities.

Although many people talk about adoption, very few actually go through with it.

That is why, when there is a couple out there that adopts six kids, and each kid is afflicted with a dire long-term illness, the adoptive parents should be given recognition and praise. A moving story by NBC 11 reports on Will and Cheryl Stark, who began adopting children twenty years ago, and took in six children, despite a great number of challenges.

The biggest challenge that Will and Cheryl Stark faced was the fact that each of the kids they adopted is considered special needs. The children have health issues ranging from Down Syndrome, to Maple Syrup Urine Disease, to Cerebral Palsy, and Cri de Chat. One of the children has two of the aforementioned illnesses at once.

Season four of The Real Housewives of Atlanta is set to air in October and Georgia residents are already on the edge of their seats. The Daily Mail reports that the new series will feature a new cast member that is full of drama and controversies -- just what all reality television fans love to see.

Americans may soon love or hate Marlo Hampton. The new Atlanta "housewife" is engaged to NFL player Charles Grant, who used to play football at the University of Georgia. Hampton apparently has a dark past with a long criminal track record, but she says that she is a "better woman" today because of it.

Are you interested in adopting a child, but unsure of what type of adoption is best for you? If so, you're certainly not alone. If you're thinking about adoption, there's a non-profit organization in Atlanta that holds classes to educate prospective adoptive parents in the area on the adoption process. Through these classes by Adoption Discovery, people can learn about the facts and myths associated with adoption.

FOX News reports that the organization Adoption Discovery offers a seven-week course that provides information about the cost of adoption along with the various types of adoption available to those in Atlanta and throughout the state of Georgia. The best part of the course is that it's free of charge.

There are currently more than 400,000 children in the United States living in foster care, which means that there's an urgent need for more adoptive parents in all parts of the country. The month of May is National Foster Care Month -- a time to shed light on the neglected children and teens who are in need of support from new families.

May is also a good time to recognize the efforts of foster families, social workers, community organizations, and others that are working to improve the lives of the youth in foster care. FosterCareMonth.org reports that there are 30,000 young adults that leave the foster care system each year without lifelong families. These teens often have difficulties finding employment in such tough economic times. The children who age out of the foster care system are also at a greater risk of poverty, homelessness, and incarceration.

Several U.S. states have laws that make it difficult or even impossible for same-sex couples to adopt a child. However, The Huffington Post reports that there's now a bill going through the House that could ban such discrimination at the federal level.

The Every Child Deserves a Family Act, proposed by Rep. Pete Stark of California, would "ban discrimination in adoption or foster care placement based on the sexual orientation, marital status or gender identity of the potential parent, or the sexual orientation or gender identity of the child." The bill is in response to the thousands of children that age out of the foster care system each year because they're unable to find adoptive parents.

According to USA Today, researchers are finding that there is a growing number of children who are of a different race than their adopted parents. In fact, about 40 percent of adoptions in the United States involve families becoming multiethnic or multiracial families.

With international adoptions to the United States, about 84 percent of the adopted children are of a different race or different ethnicity than their soon-to-be parents. It's important to realize that there could be some unexpected challenges with such adoptions, but that these additions to a family can also be very rewarding.

Tracey and Jeff Scholen, a couple from Alpharetta, Georgia, claim that they were victims of an adoption scam, but unfortunately the state of Georgia doesn’t have specific laws aimed at punishing people who commit adoption fraud. According to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the Scholens are hoping that their adoption horror story will inspire state lawmakers to create new laws on the issue.

The couple tried to handle their adoption independently and were planning to adopt a child from a couple in Kentucky. While the Scholens paid money for various expenses to the birth parents during the stages of pregnancy, they were never able to complete their adoption and get custody of the baby after the birth. It turns out that the birth parents had also promised their child to another couple in Massachusetts. After the birth, the birth parents in Kentucky said that they planned to keep their baby for themselves.