Help - having serious doubts about adopting...

Hi,I think it's totally understandable to have nervousness and fears prior to making such a massive life step! I'm a firm believer that the more information and support you receive, eg. from places like adoption.com, the better off you and your family will be in dealing with the ups and downs of international adoptive parenting. And like a lot of things in life, all we do is the best that we can, with the best of intentions, love, information, resources and faith that we have at the time. FYI - the Evan B Donaldson Adoption Institute published in Nov 2009 the most comprehensive study of international adoptee identity formation I've ever read - and it directly addresses some of the questions asked by Care333. Some of its findings and recommendations included things like travel back to the birth country, linking up with racially diverse communities, etc; as ways to help facilitate health identity formation among internationally adopted people. I've started a thread that talks about their study.[URL="http://forums.adoption.com/international-adoptees/374313-beyond-culture-camp.html"]http://forums.adoption.com/international-adoptees/374313-beyond-culture-camp.html[/URL] If you want to do a quick glance of their study, I recommend zero-ing on their 2 tables on pages 37 and 43 that cover factors that contribute to health identity formation. All the best to you!