As I've mentioned before on many occasions, I love to travel. When I go to a new country, I always like to talk to people about issues that are most important to me, including adoption.

In Egypt, I met a young man named Ashraf. We kept in touch after my travels, discussing politics, religion and other touchy subjects. I'll never forget the response I got when I told him about the circumstances surrounding the surrender of my son. He listened to my story, and then said, with great emotion, "You Americans are crazy. In my country, the family would work together to help its own." He told me that in Egypt, most women don't view unintended pregnancies as unwanted ones. Some women do seek illegal abortions, but most try to preserve the family , and adoption is not that common. When adoption does occur, it's more likely to be an open or foster situation, with no attempt to change the child's identity.

What about other parts of the world? There, too, the extended family often helps out, and government services are strong enough to make single parenting and/or parenting on a low income a viable proposition. For instance, I know that Australia handles adoption quite differently than we do in the U.S., with far fewer adoptions taking place, and with many more restrictions on how the surrender happens. Australians seem more concerned with ensuring that things happen ethically, while in America, we're more free-wheeling and "anything goes."

Another example: the Scandinavian countries are known for their social services which make it much easier for new moms to stay afloat even if the pregnancy was unintended. In particular, they offer extremely generous benefits such as very long maternity leaves and free hospital care. Some would say that these benefits are not worth the high taxes in these countries, but nevertheless, strong support systems and social safety nets are the reason why Scandinavian countries consistently top the list of the best countries to be a mother.

This is not to say that any one country has the lock on how to do adoption right. As always, what's "right" generally depends on the situation of the expectant couple and the needs of the child. But still it's interesting to learn how adoption is handled differently around the world. In some countries, adoptions were never "closed," or surrounded in secrecy and amended documents. In others, kinship care is much more common than adoption by strangers.

As someone who likes to take the global view of every subject, I do the same with adoption, and look for good ideas and approaches wherever I may find them. I encourage you to learn more about how they do it in other parts of the world.