9781422282571

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Chapter One WHAT IS ADOPTION?

Words to Understand biological parents: the woman and man who create a child; they may or not raise it. custody: legal guardianship of a child. foster: to raise a child that is not legally or biologically yours. informally: not official or legal. kinship: family relations. neglect: not caring for something correctly. The founder of Apple Computer, Steve Jobs. The actors Marilyn Monroe and Jamie Foxx. The musicians Louis Armstrong, John Lennon, and Faith Hill. Former U.S. presidents Bill Clinton and Gerald Ford, plus First Ladies Nancy Reagan and Eleanor Roosevelt. Former South African president Nelson Mandela. What could all these people possibly have in common? They were all adopted. Some, like Steve Jobs and Faith Hill, were adopted into new fami- lies when they were babies. Others, such as Bill Clinton and Jaime Foxx, were