This post on your "Transracial Adoption ABCs" is brought to you by the letter "D".

Disruption and Dissolution- These are not adoption words that many people like to talk about, as they symbolize a “worst case outcome” for an adoption. Talking about disruption and dissolution when you are in the process of adopting, is somewhat like talking about divorce when you are planning your wedding.

Disruption is when an adoption is “cancelled” for whatever reason after the adoptive parents are assigned a child, sometimes even after the child is placed with the parents, but before the adoption is legally finalized.

Dissolution is when parents choose to legally terminate the parent-child relationship created by adoption after the adoption is finalized. While disruption is often the commonly used for either scenario, dissolution is the accurate term if the adoption has been finalized.

Adoptions can disrupt/dissolve for a number of reasons. Sometimes it is because the child was not a good “match” for the family. Sometimes it is because the child has medical, emotional or attachment issues that the family was not aware of and is not prepared to handle. Sometimes it is because the adoptive parents were not truly prepared for their adoption. Children who have their adoptions disrupted or dissolved are usually adopted by other families, better suited to meet their needs.

While there is often a lot of shame and sadness involved in a disruption/dissolution situation, I know of many children who were re-adopted after a first adoption failed, who are now thriving in a way that they never would have if they had stayed in their first adoptive family.


Domestic Adoption- Domestic Adoption refers to adopting in the country in which you reside. In the United States, those options are private adoption (usually infants, although occasionally older children) or adopting through the foster care system. There are plusses to domestic adoption, such as no international travel, no language barrier and no immigration paperwork, and yet there are also challenges, including failed placements, dealing with the foster care system and unpredictable processes.

For a full look at domestic adoption options and issues, you can check out these posts.

Dossier- Dossier is one of those adoption words that you usually do not hear very often outside of the world of adoption. A dossier is required for international adoptions, and it refers to all of the paperwork required by the country you are adopting from. The amount of paperwork required varies greatly between countries and programs. Some countries require that the paperwork be authenticated, and typically the dossier needs to be translated into the language of the country you are adopting from, which is sometimes done in your country and sometimes done once the dossier arrives in the country of the child.

For a more in depth look at what goes into a dossier you can read this post, and for lots of tips on how to avoid getting overwhelmed with all of the paperwork and how to get that dossier done quickly (I did my last one in under 48 hours!) you can read this post.

*Photo from Easy Child Crafts.com