HOW TO ADOPT A CHILD

This is in line with Louise Raymond's Adoption...And After (Harper, P. 409) in that it briefs prospective adoptive parents on the mechanics of getting a child and then goes on to attitudes and approaches after the adoption is completed. But it differs from the closely written Raymond book in that, although it has some personal touches from the authors' own experiences (most amiably described in We Adopted Three (1952)), he sticks pretty closely to reporting all available information in this field. The necessity for self-examination as to motives, the public and private adoption agencies and their requirements, black and gray markets (to be avoided), refugee adoptions and questions of a young or an older child lead into the changes in social agency theory and practice in the case of over-40 parents and handicapped children. The after adoption section is wholesome in its suggestions and recommendations and carries through the teen ages. The counsel throughout is good and the guidance on legal and state procedures should be valuable. Licensed child placement agencies are listed, state by state. This would do for the quick survey- the Raymond book for more intensive study.