The Missouri Attorney General’s office is offering an online guide for those interested in adoption.

November is adoption month, and Deputy Attorney General Joe Dandurand says prospective parents need to know they have options.

The Welcome Home Guide is provided to those considering adoption. It can be found by clicking on the photo. Photo courtesy of the Attorney General's Office.

He says there are public and private agency adoptions, but people can also solicit privately for a child online. He says the guide strongly advises a lawyer be present in all adoptive negotiations, so that parents on both sides know their rights, even in the most common type of adoptions, which are step parent adoptions.

He says having a lawyer present in the deal can help those parents understand the terms of an adoption, be it open or closed, or what the adoptive parents are obligated to do or pay for in regards to the birth.

He says his office doesn’t see many adoption scams, but says following the guide and having a professional aid in the process eliminates the chance of anything unlawful happening.

AUDIO Allison Blood reports. Mp3 [1:03]