If you are facing an unplanned pregnancy adoption is a fantastic option to look into. Not being mentally ready to be a parent certainly impacts the quality of life you’ll be able to provide the child. Through adoption, you can make your life and your child’s life much easier.
Forms of Adoption
There are a few different forms of adoption you can choose to depend on your circumstances and the kind of future you want for your child. There are three main options.
Open
In an open adoption, the birth mother has an ‘open’ relationship with the child and the adoptive parents. Communication between the child, adoptive parents, and birth parents is recommended. As a parent, you will talk to your child and even meet them.
Semi-closed
Semi-closed adoption means you still get updates about the child but may not have the option to talk to or meet the child directly. You will get updates about the child’s well-being through emails and notifications from the adoption agency. You can also anonymously communicate with the adoptive parents so that your real identity is not revealed to them.
Closed
As the name implies, in a closed adoption, nearly all forms of communication are closed. Generally, the last time you meet the parents before the child is handed over to them is the last time you will have any communication with them. For some birthmothers, given their circumstances, this is the best option to go for.
Adoption Process
Regardless of which form of adoption you select; the process stays the same. There are a few main steps that you have to go through to finalize the process.
Family Profiles
The first step is to look at family profiles. Adoptive families will send you (the birthmothers) a comprehensive profile of their family, which details personal, financial, social, religious, and even medical information about the family. This gives you a comprehensive understanding of the people, their backgrounds, and the overall family that your child is going to become a part of.
Home Profiles
Together with the family profile is the home profile. This specifically evaluates the physical condition and characteristics of the property/accommodation of the adoptive family. This is important, as it is the future home of your child.
This way, you know what kind of place and environment the child will live in. Sometimes, the adoptive family will be required to change the home to make it child-friendly so they can go ahead with the adoption.
Meeting
If you are happy with the family profile and the home profile of a specific family, you can proceed to in-person meetings with them. This will give you chances to understand the adoptive family.
Finalizing
If you are happy with all the previous steps, you can start working towards finalizing the adoption. For a few weeks after the child is born, the child stays with the mother, and during this phase, you can still reconsider whether you want to go for adoption or not. It’s not uncommon for a mother to not want to give up the child after the baby’s delivery, so you still have enough time to weigh out your options.
The modern adoption process is very transparent and easy to navigate. If you take things step by step and carefully consider all your options, finding the best home for your child is not a difficult job. If you want to learn a bit more about the process, adoption agencies like Adoption by Shepherd Care can help you learn more about the process and what’s involved.
