Okay as seen on my profile I'm a hobby novelist. I'm currently writing a story on a guy who finds a child and has to take care of it from now on. I'm not going into detail about the particulars of how and why now, but short version is the child can't stay with other people or in an orphanage so he has to file for legal guardianship.

I need information for my novel on this. Is there anyone here who can tell me without too many latin words how filing for legal guardianship works in America? What are your obligations as parents to be? What does the law need to know about you when filing for guardianship? Will the parent and child be monitored to see if the parent is a good parent for his child? If yes who does this monitoring, some type of child health care association or Social services?

Also I would like to know more about the first 5 years, what besides growth kiddie diseases tantrums and teething problems can the parent expect? Is there in America such a thing as the consultation bureau which you visit twice a year to see if your child grows according to standard and receive dietary advice from?

And what about schooling? How does the American school system work? Are there pre-schools? How do you apply? What do you need to send along with the application? What is the usual procedure at schools when a child becomes ill or if someone who is not the parent or legal guardian wants to take the child home? If there is a preschool what's it like in America? Is it like in holland : play, arts and crafts time, snack time, story time, play outside unless it rains and go home? Also what is the situation grade wise? is it just group 1, 2, 3 ETC or is there a particular system there?

Other things I'm curious about: Your experiences with children between 1-3 and 5-12. What did you run into that you didn't have an answer for in any parenting books or webpages? Are there in America any groups of sorts where young parents can go to to get advice on parenthood from other parents or do parents arrange that themselves? A child's first birthday at school how does that go for the parent? Basically anything really about parenting. I would love to hear people's experiences to get a good idea of what do incorporate in my story. The help with the legal and court part of guardianship and the part about the inner runnings of American schools and preschools is very much needed though.

My thanks in advance for all your help, advice, hints/tips/tricks, information ETC. With your help I'm sure I'll be able to write a wonderful story!