Adoption doesn't happen in a vacuum, but those new to the experience may get the idea that reinventing the wheel is required -- no matter which angle they come from.

This lack of familiarity with the adoption world ... an innocence, if you like, of unimagined complexities ... is a set-up.

With the real-world situation of lives literally at stake, blind trust that everything will go as it should and everyone involved is compassionate, caring and ethical is just plain silly. I can think of few circumstances that have less business prompting sheepish following , but that can be exactly the case when people are afraid, desperate and easily intimidated.

Although caveat emptor sounds crass as all get-out when it's human beings being discussed, it should be engraved on every first thought of adoption for potential adoptive parents and expectant parents considering adoption, as everyone is buying something in this equation.

Be it a dream of a family, a solution to a problem, a hope for a future, an escape from a maze ... whatever ... none of the parties are coming to this table cavalierly.

Surprisingly, however, many do enter the picture completely uninformed and often spend the rest of their lives regretting choices made in the dark.

It is these regrets that inspire some to take up the mantle of reform after the fact, or in some cases to groom resentments that root deeply enough to deny the value of adoption altogether.

Simply stated, the first step to adoption reform must be made by individuals starting on the path owning up to their responsibility to educate themselves.

The initial stages of the education process are easily taken. Information is readily available and most is free to whomever chooses to spend a few hours on the Internet. (More time can be spent comparing available options on new cars than checking the ins and outs and rights and wrongs of adoption ... a sad truth of our times.)

To make the early steps of the process easier, I'm spending my day putting together a list of just some of the resources that can provide direction along the path.

Many of these links will lead to many others, and I strongly recommend a thorough investigation of all threads attached to the potential direction you may face.

The list commences on the next post.