Operation: Adoption

What’s the adoption process really like? Get the full rundown, from what your options are, to how much it costs and how the process will impact your life.

A few years ago, Dan and Tracey Rechtin decided they wanted to adopt. They had thought about it on and off throughout their marriage, but when their neighbors adopted a little boy from Belarus, they fell in love.

Unfortunately, things didn’t go so well for Dan and Tracey. “We and two other families had a failed adoption in Belarus and were caught up in a political snafu. We had spent three days with our son, bonding and getting him to trust us. In the end, we had to leave our son behind; having no word on when or if we will ever be able to adopt him,” says Tracey, who works at Maryville University in St. Louis. That was more than two years ago. “That was one of the worst experiences of our lives,” she says.

[Read more at Hitched]