Best Ways to Keep In Touch Through Adoption

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    Connections between birth parents and LGBT adoptive parents can play a large part in your important adoption decision and can be the start of a beautiful relationship, but communication is one of the parts that prospective birth mothers and adoptive families often need expert help with.

    Step 1: Getting in Touch

    Before you can begin the exciting journey of getting to know your child’s parents, you will need to get connected with the best adoption opportunity. The process looks slightly different for potential adoptive parents and prospective birth parents.

    As Prospective Birth Mother

    If you are a new or expectant mother considering adoption, your first step in getting in touch with a potential adoptive family will likely be communicating with an adoption agency. With American Adoptions, you can view videos and written profiles of adoptive families to help you choose the perfect adoptive family.

    Most prospective birth mothers want an open or semi-open adoption, where there is some contact with the adoptive family, and the adoptive family knows at least some basic information about you. Our adoption professionals at American Adoptions are happy to help you complete your adoption in the way that makes you feel most comfortable.

    As an Adoptive Family

    If you are a hopeful adoptive family, you will complete the home study process and make an adoptive family profile that is shown to prospective birth mothers.

    As you make your adoptive family profile, you can share your contact preferences with your adoption professional, who can then show your profile to potential birth parents whose preferences match your own. Birth mothers have the final choice of family and the type of contact they prefer. Being as open as possible can help you find a great adoption match faster.

    When a birth mother chooses you as a potential adoptive family, your adoption professional will contact you and help you set up contact with the birth mother according to her preferences.

    Step 2: The First Meeting

    For both potential birth parents and potential adoptive parents, having great adoption professionals at this beginning stage is crucial because we can help you find an adoption match that is compatible and has a high chance of success. Our agency will give you the most possible matches because of our national scope and effective advertising, which can increase the likelihood of finding a successful match in the best time frame possible.

    Once an adoption match is made, communication gets easier in some ways because you will know that you share the same goals and hopes for communication, but if you have an open or semi-open adoption, the first time you exchange communication can be nerve-wracking.

    If you are feeling nervous about this first conversation, it may be helpful to talk to your partner, a friend, or a family member or write down a list of any topics you would like to discuss or questions you would like to ask. Our adoption professionals can also help you determine how to approach any topics you are unsure of.

    Step 3: Keeping in Touch Before Placement

    After the first meeting, often many anxieties are soothed, but there will still be steps you will need to navigate.

    As a prospective birth mother, you can decide how you would like to include your chosen prospective adoptive family in the pregnancy. Some mothers are comfortable with or excited to have the potential adoptive family in the room for support and share experiences like ultrasounds or check-ups.

    Other prospective birth mothers may feel more sensitive or have feelings of grief and feel more comfortable doing those things alone. In some cases, you may also want to maintain privacy.

    Pregnancy can be a difficult and busy time for prospective birth mothers, so your contact preferences might vary as your pregnancy continues. This can be when prospective adoptive parents and birth parents bond and get to know each other, building a foundation of trust and connection that carry into your child’s adoption.

    Step 4: Communication During the Hospital Stay

    Creating shared memories during the hospital stay can be a beautiful way to connect, and you can share these memories with your child.

    Before your adoption match is made, our professionals help birth mothers make an adoption plan that outlines her adoption preferences throughout the process. Part of this plan includes the hospital plan.

    As a birth mother, your hospital plan can help you outline how you would like the adoptive family to be involved during the birth and set aside any time and space you may want with your child and support team.

    If you are an adoptive family, the hospital stay can be an exciting time, but it can also come with anxieties and heightened sensitivity to the birth mother’s feelings of grief. Positive communication and relationship building before and during the hospital stay can make the hospital stay and transitional period easier for everyone.

    Step 5: Post-Placement Contact

    Once the child is placed with the adoptive family, communication will vary depending on the type of adoption.

    In closed adoptions, it is understood that the adoptive family will have little or no contact with the birth parents after placement. This can mean that the name and personal details of the birth mother are not shared with the adoptive family and child.

    If any questions or concerns come about from either birth parents or adoptive parents in a closed adoption, their questions would be directed to the adoption agency, who may or may not be able to relay information from the other party.