When Ines Arnsberger Hatch

and her husband, Robert, decided to begin the process to adopt a child,

Ines began an extended period of research. The more she read, the same

things kept popping up over and over again and as her adoption process

started, she found there was nothing in these books to prepare her for

the emotional roller-coaster she and her husband were enduring. She decided

to write a book to fill that need and now, "The Adoption Eclipse:

Choices County," is now available to readers and is getting a good

response.

"The Adoption Eclipse:

Choices Count" is written in novel form, but there is a lot of reference

material in the book for both adoptive parents and biological parents

to consider. The story is based on Hatch's actual experiences and

deal with not only the physical process of adoption but also the psychological

challenges that both the adoptive parents and the birth mother faced.

"There were no books out

there about the personal aspect of adoption," said Hatch, who wanted

to detail the emotions involved on both sides of the issue. As she looked

deeper and deeper into adoption, more questions arose. She found answers

for herself, but wanted to give others that were going through the same

process a chance to ask themselves the same questions.

For instance, one of the first

questions that needs to be answered is which type of adoption would be

best. The three most common types of adoption are closed, in which the

adoptive parents and the birth parents have no contact or knowledge of

each other, semi-open, in which first names and medical history may be

exchanged, but after the birth contact is very limited, or open, in which

the birth parents still have contact with the child. After the book ends,

there are more questions as well as appendixes and resources for adoptive

parents to look into.

The Hatches have adopted two

children and the process to adopt the children were both extremely different.

The first adoption only took three months, which is extremely rare, while

the second adoption took closer to 13 months. They hired an adoption attorney,

which is an option that more and more adoptive parents are choosing these

days. An adoption attorney walks adoptive parents though the process and

helps them avoid legal problems, which can vary state to state.

"Adoption is a very specialized

field," said Hatch. "We felt it was important to have someone

who knew the process and could dot the i's and cross the t's."

Another important reason to

have an adoption attorney, especially if one is not going through an agency,

is that all monies must go through the attorney. This is to avoid baby

selling, or rather, adoptive parents offering money to the birth mother

to guarantee the adoption.

"The Adoption Eclipse:

Choices Count" was a way for Hatch to share what she had learned

during the adoption process, which she admits can be very overwhelming.

Since the book has been published, she has found so many connections to

both people who have been adopted or have adopted children. Writing the

book has also inspired Hatch to write another book, a prequel of sorts,

called "Marsha's Song," which is due out sometime next

year.

"I learned something new

every day during the writing process and got better each day," said

Hatch, who hopes that readers will also learn something with this book

and that their adoption process will go smoother because of it.

"The Adoption Eclipse:

Choices Count" is available at Berea Christian Bookstore, Omega Books,

Amazon.com, Tapestrybooks.com and www.penmanpub.com.