CBS news reports the top tips for parents with adopted children include being honest with yourself and your children about adoption, thinking through the entire adoption process, and ways to avoid excess expenses. In addition to dealing with adoption, many times adults are also becoming parents for the first time. Read more about what parents can do throughout the adoption process online from CBS news.

For some parents considering adoption, a major question is whether to adopt domestically or internationally. Parents will hear multiple views for both choices. "Why adopt internationally when there are so many kids in our country that need families?" "All those kids from Russia (China, Guatemala, India . . .) have major problems." "At least in an international adoption the parents can’t change their mind." "The kids available domestically don't have RAD (reactive attachment disorder) whereas all those international kids do." The problem with those statements is that they're all partly true and they’re all partly false.

Like most things in life, adoption has its pros and cons, and how we interpret those topics depends on our personalities, life styles, interests, likes, upbringing, and lots more.

The one thing that is often true is the cost difference. Domestic adoptions can be at no cost (although adopting a newborn can run into the thousands), and international adoptions can be up to $40,000. Often, however, it's not the big issues, i.e., domestic or international, boy or girl, age eight or age 12, Russia or China, that determine the right fit between parents and child. It's the smaller issues, the more detailed questions, i.e., what level of trauma did the child go through in the early years, how many placements has the child had, how physically healthy is the child, how strong are the connections and attachments that the child has made, and the child's general personality. These questions are applicable to both domestically and internationally adopted children.

Decide what's best for you and your family. Look at the big questions and the smaller questions. And remember that domestic adoption or international adoption is only one of many questions to be decided.

Children with neglectful or traumatic events during their first few years, including kids who were adopted, are at risk of attachment and bonding difficulties or even RAD (reactive attachment disorder). But, like most mental health issues, there's no one-size-fits-all formula for treatment. In general, it's thought that kids with attachment issues or RAD should be treated by a trained attachment therapist, with the therapy starting at as young an age as possible.

The RAD diagnosis is fairly new however. Questions and misunderstandings still swirl around what reactive attachment disorder is, how to diagnose it, and how to treat it.

Even though it's listed in the DSM IV, is it a verifiable diagnosis? How is it possible that kids might be violent and manipulative at home, but sweet and charming with others? Why do some counselors and therapists mis diagnose RAD kids as having ADHD or bipolar? Why does it take specialized therapy to treat children and teens diagnosed with RAD? Isn't it just a parenting issue? And, if parents do have a child diagnosed with RAD, why are there only limited resources available?

While professionals debate these questions, parents just want help! What about you? Is your child well attached? What helped or hindered your child's attachment to you, or your attachment to your child? If you've completed attachment therapy, was it effective? What questions do you have? What do you want to share?

Knowing about an adopted child's past is always filled with unanswered questions. Even when adopting older children, who are able to talk about some of their pre-adoption experiences, it can be difficult to anticipate what may be emotional triggers. For some kids it can be stress. For others, seasonal changes. For some children, the emotional stimuli can be related to trauma anniversaries. If a child was removed from their birth parents at Thanksgiving, that time of the year may be filled with anxiety. If a child experienced trauma at night, the child may be overwhelmed every night at bedtime. If a child was moved from a beloved foster family during winter, cold weather may exacerbate any emotional or behavioral issues.

Knowing what triggers a child's behavioral changes will not provide a solution. But it will provide insight to help parents communicate with their children. Hopefully, over a period of time, these anniversaries can be anticipated and the challenging behavior mitigated.

Angelina Jolie. Halle Berry. Meg Ryan. These are only a few of the celebrities that have adopted or are considering adoption as a way to grow their families. For adoptive parents, and prospective adoptive parents, that's great news . . . , isn't it? The celebrity voice brings an openness to the topic of adoption. Openness equals greater acceptance . . . right? Or, does the focus on who's adopting, distort from the challenges involved in adoption? Do you hear celebrity adoptive parents talking about parenting classes? Are there honest discussions about attachment and bonding? Do celebrities discuss birth order and blending biological kids with birth kids? They might, but they aren't public discussions. Yes, adoptive parents want adoption to be an acceptable way to grow a family. But, does the "glossy" version of adoption oversimplify the issues involved in creating a successful adoptive family? What are your thoughts?

Do kids who were adopted have more mental health issues than biological kids? Some studies say yes; due to issues of adoption and early trauma, adopted kids do have more mental health needs. But other researchers say that adopted kids are more likely to receive mental health care than biological kids, thus skewing the results. Also, might some adopted kids be more likely to receive therapy because they have access to Medicaid which includes mental health?

Certainly many kids who were adopted come from backgrounds of trauma or neglect, so the potential is there for cognitive and social difficulties, as well as emotional and behavioral issues. Over time, however, does that translate directly into mental health problems? What do you think? Do adopted kids have more mental health issues, or are they simply more likely to receive treatment?