Since early times, families in all parts of the world have adopted children. Records describing adoption in Ancient Rome, Babylonia, and China show the similarities and differences to the adoption practices we know today. This comprehensive resource provides both historical and current information on all aspects of adoption, from many cultures and religions, including Africa, Britain, Canada, China, India, Islam, Japan, Jewish, Mexico, Mormon, and others. It provides information on the cultural, ethical, financial, legal, medical, psychological, and social implications of adoption. It highlights perspectives of the birth parents, adopting parents and the adopted child; open and closed adoption; national and international adoption; grandparent and single-parent adoptions; and agencies that assist with pre and post-adoption issues. Primary documents, biographies of those in the adoption field, and sidebars identifying special facts relating to the history and experience of adoption, complete this most exhaustive resource that no library serving adopting parents, adoptees, or practitioners in the field will want to be without.