Each year, hundreds of thousands of babies are adopted by new parents in the U.S. Does the sheer number make the process any easier? Certainly not. Even the easiest adoptions require hours of adoption paperwork, multiple visits to a hospital and sometimes with a birth-parent and many, many long conversations with an agency. And that’s on top of the typical stress of pregnancy, even if your partner isn’t the one having a baby.

That’s why Fatherly built this guide to adoption. We talked to agency directors, experts, and actual parents to find out everything there is to no about the adoption process, adoption laws, relationships with birth-parents, and more.