It’s a great time to be pursuing adoption. There are more ways than ever to get connected with someone and create the family of your dreams. But your time and energy aren’t limitless. And neither are your financial resources. So you’ll want to make smart, careful decisions and consider all your options during every step of your adoption journey. You’ll need to be creative and open-minded at times, stubborn and tenacious at others. Your adoption success will require effort... Read more…

In today’s world of social media, private adoption has become much more dependent on making sure you have an online profile, often with both your adoption professional as well as on a site like Adoptimist. Although adoption scams have existed for decades, prospective adoptive families are expected to “put themselves out there” more than ever. Prospective adoptive parents come into adoption in a very vulnerable state... Read more…

One of the great things about open adoption is you can tailor-make an adoption plan to fit each birth and adoptive family’s situation. This is especially helpful when a birthmother has children she is currently parenting at the time of placement or has plans for future children and wants those children and her placed child(ren) to know one another. One of the big reasons why I personally chose open adoption for my unborn baby, was that open adoption would allow... Read more…

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” (Matthew 5:4) This was the one article I have put aside and avoided writing over and over again. This is such a tough situation. On one hand, parenting by the biological parents should be celebrated and supported (in most cases); on the other hand, we, the potential adoptive parents, experience a loss similar to those who have been pregnant and had a miscarriage. Failed... Read more…

Bailey Correll is a clinical medical psychology graduate student at Mercer University in Georgia. Bailey is also a birthmom of 5 years. Bailey is working on an interesting research project from a birth parent’s point of view that looks at the interactions between birth parents and legal professionals before the adoption is finalized. As you may recall, I wrote an article about how I did not meet the attorney who was representing my rights as a birthmother until right before I was about to Read more…

Donate to the 2017 Birth Mother Retreat! Thirteen years ago, in the spring of 2005, I was having a late-night phone conversation with my best friend and fellow birthmother, Leilani. She and I had met about a year and half prior as the result of an “is anyone out there” post she had placed on an adoption forum looking for another birthmother who understood what she was going through. I stumbled across that post and emailed her as I was desperately seeking another birthmother to talk to. We had... Read more…

Recently I was talking with an expectant mother considering adoption. She was nearly 7 months pregnant and had been going back and forth between parenting and making an adoption plan. She was reaching out to both single mothers and birthmothers trying to find out what it’s really like. “Be totally real with me and tell me everything I need to know as I try to make this decision,” she said. “How did you figure out what was the right decision?” It seems like an easy enough question to answer, right? But unfortunately, there is no road map on how to... Read more…

My heart longs for you to be in my arms. Since I cannot hug you today, or physically hand you this big tacky heart or teddy bear I am envisioning, I can give you a different kind of Valentine. This Valentine is a bouquet of hopes, dreams and good wishes instead of roses, daisies and tulips. In this bouquet I have put: ♥ A prayer for your biological mother and father -that the Lord gives them both extra strength and courage to choose life for you. I pray your mother has an easy pregnancy and that she dreams of your future with hope. ♥ A promise... Read more…

Dear Hopeful Adoptive Parent, Perhaps you have no children yet running the halls of your home and have turned to adoption to start your family. Or maybe you have adopted a couple of times already or have a few biological kids and are hoping to add a sibling to the mix by adopting. Whatever your back story is, you are likely reading this because you are hoping to adopt and in the process of adopting now. I won’t pretend to know the emotions you are feeling or exactly what the experience and process has been like up to this point for you. I’ve never... Read more…

Updated: Latest IAC / Adoptimist Info ———————————————————————— Like all of you we were shocked and saddened by the news of the Independent Adoption Center’s closure. We understand that your resolve may be shaken and that you may even be considering ending... Read more…