ABSTRACT
Adoption is a good example of both a private matter and a public issue. Adoption is a private matter, because sizeable numbers of individuals and couples build their families, or attempt to do so, through adoption. Adoption is a public issue because discriminatory policies that make adopting domestically more difficult to accomplish push many families into the international adoption market where they may also face discriminatory adoption practices, abuses, and improprieties. Although the private trouble and the public issue exist at different levels, they can bear an important relationship to one another. They will include teachers having to deal with children who have attention difficulties, possible hyperactivity, oppositional and disruptive behaviour, and a host of other problems that impact on their ability to learn in traditional classroom settings. Private troubles can be addressed successfully through personal efforts at the individual level.
