Yesterday a Seattle newspaper had an interesting “quiz” about international adoption. It was written by columnist Joyce Brothers. If you’re not familiar with her, Dr. Joyce Brothers is a family psychologist and advice columnist (who is now a spry 78 years old).

Yesterdays’ article is titled “International Adoption is not for Everyone” and in it, Dr. Joyce Brothers gives some basic information on the possible psychological aspects of international adoption. The information is given in a “quiz” format, where she makes a statement and you guess true or false, and then the answers and additional information is given at the end.

It is a short article (only six questions) and there is some good information in the article, especially for people just starting out. I do see it to be a tad bit on the “doom and gloom” side of things, but just a little negative, and mostly realistic. Also, it is impossible to make general statements about all international adoptions and how the children fare…the care that the children receive and the places that they are living before adoption, which have such big affects on the children, range drastically. There is a huge difference between life in the orphanages in Eastern Europe and the ones in Ethiopia, and then other places such as Guatemala and Korea have the kids in foser care.

It does however tackle some of the common misconceptions regarding international adoption, which is a good thing. Hopefully none of this is new info for experienced families.

Overall, I think it is a good, short piece on adoption and as usual, I am glad to see adoption featured in the media that isn’t about some horror story of adoptive parents facing heartbreak after a birth family takes their child back or even worse, of some sick adoptive or foster parents abusing or killing their children.

It also has a good message in the title. No, international adoption is not for everyone and it is not something to enter into unprepared. But I would like to see more articles on how to go about adopting internationally and some success stories as well.

I really like that so many “informational” articles on adoption have been in main-stream media sources lately. I know lots of people who originally started considering adoption after reading a newspaper article or seeing something adoption-related on the news.

There are millions and millions of orphans in the world right now, desperately needing a home, family and love, and we need to keep directing people’s attention towards them.

So, go ahead and take the quiz. I got a 100 (but I’ve always been a nerd). :)