What is the Difference between Adopting a Family Member and Private Adoption?
Adoption comes with a lot of terminology; thankfully, it comes with a lot of help, too. We take on a lot of different responsibilities at Adoption Choices of Arizona, from helping you secure necessary resources during your pregnancy to providing you with as many options as you need to find a good adoptive family for your child. Another part of our efforts in the field of adoption, however, is offering important information and helping you as a birth mother figure out some of the more complex facets of the adoption process.
If you need adoption help now, please call or text us at 1-480-900-5520 or visit us at Adoption Choices of Arizona.
While many birth mothers like you might feel knowledgeable about what adoption is in a general sense, you may not be aware of some finer details, like the difference between adopting a family member and private adoption. There are a few key factors that set these two types of adoption apart from one another, and we believe it’s our job as an adoption agency to help lay that out for you if it’s something you’re curious about.
Adopting a Family Member
When it comes to adoption of a family member, many of the unique factors that set it apart from private adoption come from a legal standpoint. For starters, this type of adoption is commonly encountered in a situation where a child is often left in an unfortunate situation, such as the incapacitation of both of his or her parents. Of course, there are other reasons this may possibly come up, and every situation is unique. In the case that a court decides a relative such as an aunt, uncle, or grandparent should step in and be given custody of a child, this type of adoption typically ensues.
This adoption obviously is missing some of the hallmarks of the adoption process that you may be familiar with. For one, the adoptive family is already decided on. If it happens to be your case, in which your child is being adopted by a relative, there will be no family profiles involved or anything like that, although relatives adopting in some places are still eligible to have things like background checks and home investigations, if a court believes it is in the child’s best interest. Additionally, it is likely that the child is already born, as this type of adoption is frequently not premeditated. This removes a large portion of the adoption process for you, which is making sure you are comfortable and taken care of throughout your pregnancy.
Private Adoption
Private adoption is likely the type of adoption you’re more familiar with as a birth mother, and it’s the primary type of adoption advertised by us at Adoption Choices of Arizona. They are referred to as “private” adoptions because they involve a private party (that being a birth mother seeking an adoptive family for her child) or a private adoption agency, depending on the particular definition. This is where a birth mother chooses an adoptive family and generally looks into the adoption process while still pregnant, though that may not always be the case. In essence, this type of adoption is defined by the freedom of choice provided to the birth mother in her situation.
This type of adoption is notable as the traditional service to birth mothers. Some of the factors that make up the difference between adopting a family member and private adoption include the search for an adoptive family that suits your needs and wants for your child, as well as the potential for help with handling things like paperwork and finances during the pregnancy. Both types of adoption are of course valid in their own ways, and account for two separate situations in which adoption is a valid answer.
The Difference between Adopting a Family Member and Private Adoption
Ultimately, when it comes to the difference between adopting a family member and private adoption, what you need to know is that a family member adoption is often very personal and follows a situation in which a child is potentially put in harm’s way by forces often outside of anyone’s control, while private adoption is a more controlled process where the freedom of decision making is often placed in the immediate hands of the birth mother in question. These are some pretty important differences in the process of both, and they are not interchangeable terms. Adoption Choices of Arizona works hard to inform and provide the best possible information for those in need of it. This includes covering the ways in which adoption differs from situation to situation.
For adoption resources or to begin your adoption journey, birth parents can visit us at Adoption Choices of Arizona or call or text us at 1-480-900-5520. If you are an prospective adoptive family hoping to adopt a baby, please instead, visit us here!
Meet the Author: Josh Drogemuller is a Senior at Grand Valley State University and has interests in writing and digital studies. A relative newcomer to the field of professional writing, Josh has spent the last eight years of his educational career honing his skills on the page. Josh is currently working towards a Bachelor of Science in Writing.
Living in the Midwest, Josh looks forward to long baseball games and longer sentences.
