Before telling you about my foster-to-adoption experience of a healthy, newborn baby from foster care, I first want to encourage you to adopt a teenager. Teens are so much cooler than babies! When I'm a little older, I hope to adopt a high schooler. For inspiration, check out You Gotta Believe! and Foster Club. Oh, and just another plug: the most common type of foster children waiting for homes are ones in larger, bonded sibling groups and those with special needs. If you think you're not equipped for a foster child categorized with special needs, think again while taking the lists of diagnoses with a grain of salt. With foster children, clinicians prefer to pile on the concerns in assessments in order to get the full spectrum of services and therapies. It's better to err on the side of caution than to risk a foster child falling through the cracks, right? Now, on with my 7 anecdotal surprises while adopting Clementine, my 5 month-old daughter, from foster care. -By Rebecca from Fosterhood

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