If you are pregnant, take the time to assess your feelings. Are you ready to provide an appropriate home for a growing child? There is no shame in saying ‘no, I’m not ready,’ and choosing an option other than parenting if you think that is the best thing for you and your baby. Adoption is another choice, a way of giving your baby the healthy home you feel they deserve.
Types Of Adoption
Just like your other options, adoption comes in many forms. Pregnant women considering adoption can choose to have either open or closed adoptions.
Open Adoption
An open adoption is one in which biological parents and adoptive families have a certain level of access to one another’s personal information before the adoption takes place. Generally, biological parents are allowed to choose an adoptive family for their child.
In many cases, birthmothers and adoptive parents remain in contact after the adoption. There are varying degrees of openness; some biological parents exchange letters with their child’s adoptive parents, while others visit their children personally. The degree of openness in an open adoption is up to you, and can be agreed upon before you place your baby. Open adoption is meant to make you feel comfortable with who will parent your biological child, and the home in which they will live, as well as allowing you to have contact and watch your child grow.
Learn more by visiting “What Is Open Adoption?”
Closed Adoption
A closed adoption is one in which prospective adoptive parents and biological parents know nothing about one another. After placement, there is no contact between any parties of the adoption triad.
Why Choose Open Adoption?
Open adoption is a choice that can benefit birth mothers, children, and adoptive families alike. Learn more on our “What are the benefits of Open Adoption?” page.
How Does Adoption Work?
If adoption sounds like a good option in your situation, you’re probably wondering how it will work in reality. Find out more about the step by step process at “What happens if I place my child for Adoption?”
But like any other difficult choice, placing your baby for adoption can hurt, even if you know it is the right choice for you and your baby.
Although many women feel that they are making the right choice in placing their child for adoption, numerous emotions accompany the decision. Not all of these feelings are easy to deal with, but with proper preparation and counseling birth mothers can come to understand difficult emotions and handle them in a healthy way. Learn more at “Understanding Grief, Loss & Healing.“