I am 20 years old and I am ready to start my family. I am wanting to adopt a child 0-4 years of age. What's the best way I could do this?

Start with contacting your local adoption agency. There's a lot involved in adopting, it's a long process, can often take years.

They will be checking on your lifestyle, your home, childcare arrangements, income.

Also, married couples with established careers are more likely to get a child.

So, check out your local adoption agency, ask them what the next step is, they'll council you and get things rolling.

You'll have to contact a local adoption agency to start the approval process. Don't expect it to happen quickly, though.

I would just like to point out a few things to you, here:

1. You are more likely to get a child as a single parent if you look through foster care agencies.

2. You don't mention whether you are in a relationship, but if you are, then getting married would go a long way toward helping you in the adoption process.

3. BIRTHPARENTS choose who the adoptive parents are more than 80% of the time with infants. Please remember that a woman--even a YOUNG woman--who wanted her child raised by a single mother would do it herself. Most birthparents are looking for families.

4. You are young. You are going to have a harder time convincing a birthparent OR an adoption agency that you are in this for the long haul right now. I'm not saying you're not--but that you're going to be working uphill because your age is against you.

5. Adoption is EXPENSIVE. Period. Especially if you are looking for a toddler or infant. Please expect adoption to run you between $13k and $25k, depending on whether you choose domestic or international adoption.

Where do you start? You start by doing some reading on adoption in general. Adoption.com and adoption.org are reputable sites to start with. Then you see a lawyer (for a private adoption) or go to an adoption agency and ask them what you do next. Every state has different laws regarding adoption, and you may have to jump through different hoops, depending on where you are.

It's unlikely you would qualify at the age of 20 - that's very young. Consider all the advice above. Most birth parents who place are doing so because they want a two parent family for their child and they want older parents who are more secure and settled in their lives. It would be an extremely rare individual who would be in any position to adopt at your age. Even if you have unlimited income, there would be a lot of questions about your future relationships, why you are in such a hurry to parent and things of that nature. Most children who are placed in the US are placed because the birth parents are not old enough nor settled and secure enough to raise the children - it would be a hard sell to propose that you are.