customs

not sure why jelomagnetti was downvoted, but I, for one, was adopted from poverty/bad situation in Brazil (at birth) and was given an amazing life and cannot emphasize enough how awesome it is that there are great people/parents (which is what you sound like) to take on kids as if they were your own. as you say you are considering this, if you ever have questions about adoption (particularly from the kid's point of view) don't hesitate to contact me.

Has he ever been back? If yes, why did he go and what was it like to go back? If not, does he regret it?

at birth. in fact, my parents knew they were going to adopt me (specifically) before i was actually born. i would definitely recommend it, but obviously, i'm a little biased :) i'll say this: i have never felt any less of my parents' child because i wasn't physically created by them. they raised me for as long as i could remember, read me all the bedtime stories, walked me to school, etc... all of my grandparents and extended family welcomed me (and my sister who was also adopted), without any reservations. it isn't some big thing i have in the back of my mind all the time, and i have a very positive outlook on adoption, mine in particular. i find that i'm able to feel pride for where i'm from (brazil), though i've never been back, and yet feel entirely american (since i was adopted at birth, i instantly became a US citizen, i even have a US birth certificate -obviously one that says i was born abroad-).

it was never hidden from me where i was from. the most important thing for me was that nothing about the adoption was ever concealed from me. when people hide it, or don't trust their younger kids to be able to handle it, they make their kids feel as if there's something wrong with it. i can't remember the first time we talked about adoption because it was an ongoing thing ever since i was born. there's tons of children's books and stuff to help with the process.

sorry for the long speech, let me know if there's ANY other question, really, there's nothing you can ask to make me feel uncomfortable.

patrolling the NYC skies, apparently