What Will People Think if I Give My Baby up for Adoption?
Perhaps one of the largest barriers for many mothers considering adoption is the social stigma. If you have ever worried what people will think if you tell them you’re putting your baby, this might apply to you, too. Having conversations about adoptions with friends or family can be difficult. However, many of people’s concerns surrounding adoption come from their lack of knowledge about adoptions. Adoption Choices of Arizona wants to help all mothers looking to put their baby for adoption. Once people know a little more about adoptions, their fears tend to melt away.
If you need adoption help now, please call or text us at 1-480-900-5520 or visit us at Adoption Choices of Arizona.
- Misconception: The Child goes to a Random Family
When some people think of adoption, they think of old-school closed adoptions. Closed adoptions are when the adoptive family and birth mother have little to no interaction with each other at all. Identifying information is hidden, and only the minimum necessary information is shared. However, most birth mothers now choose a semi-open or open adoption.
Working with our adoption agencies in Arizona, you can choose from several families waiting for the chance to adopt. When you review the families, you get information about their parenting styles, religion, and their lives in general. With an open adoption, you may even meet with the family before choosing to place your child with them. Learning about the adoptive family helps you feel confident that your child will be happy and healthy.
- Misconception: Adoption is Giving Up
There is a perception that putting your child up for adoption is giving up on them. When looking at unplanned pregnancy options, it’s easy to worry that people think you’re lazy for not raising the child yourself. However, these people don’t know the details of the situation like you do.
The only person who knows what’s best for you and your child is you. Maybe you’re a single mother with a job, and don’t qualify for time off to raise your child. Maybe your partner is in the military, and won’t be around to raise their child. Maybe you can’t afford to raise a child while paying off your debt. Adoption is a way to ensure your child’s future with a loving family. Despite the popularity of the phrase “giving a baby for adoption”, adoption is anything but giving up.
- Misconception: Adoptive Families Can be Anyone
Many people wonder how adoptive families are chosen in the first place. After all, most parents don’t have to meet any requirements to be parents. Is it any different for adoptive parents?
All adoptive families must have an updated home study in order to qualify to be an adoptive family. A home study is a process that makes sure adopted families are amply prepared to raise children. The first part of this is paperwork. Adoptive families need letters of recommendation from friends or family, fingerprints, medical records, and proof of employment. Adoptive families also write short autobiographies and must have health insurance.
Once all of the paperwork is in order, the adoptive family meets with a social worker for an interview. This covers their beliefs about parenting and their plans for raising a child. The home itself is also checked for safety. Pets should be well trained and electrical sockets should be covered. With all of these requirements met, the adoptive family can officially start looking for children to adopt. No matter which family you choose to put your child with, you can be sure they’re amply prepared to parent.
- Misconception: You Can’t Pay for the Pregnancy
This concern may come up more often from close friends or family. If you need to place the baby with another family for financial reasons, how will you pay for the pregnancy?
Adoption Choices of Arizona is strongly committed to making sure every birth mother is safe, healthy, and comfortable during their pregnancy. Well, as comfortable as any other mother with morning sickness and a specific craving for pickles. We can help provide you with transportation, housing, doctor’s visits, and anything else you need during your pregnancy. Even if you’re homeless or unemployed, we will make sure you get all the help you need.
Building Arizona Families by Placing Your Baby for Adoption
While misconceptions can be frustrating, it is good to remember that many of these come from a place of concern. Nobody wants to see a child go uncared for. That’s why one of the best ways to clear those thoughts up is to share how adoption works. Adoption isn’t giving up and it isn’t placing your child with some random family. Adoption Choices of Arizona and adoption agencies across the state will make sure parents looking to adopt have the resources they need. Have some friends who are a little confused about adoption? Send them over here to Adoption Choices of Arizona!
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 a prospective adoptive family hoping to adopt a baby, please instead, visit us here!
Meet the author: Joshua Boulet is an aspiring journalist and writer with a particular fondness for research and social sciences. He loves music, writing, reading, video games and most art, and anything creative he can get his hands on. Boulet believes that there’s too much good stuff out there and not enough time to see it all. He grew up on video games: the classic Sonic the Hedgehog games, Mario Kart, Marvel Ultimate Alliance, and Legend of Zelda. The music of rhythm games led him to an interest in that, and the investigative journalism of Jason Schreier inspired him to discover the importance of journalism as an industry. That interest in developers’ lives led him to an interest in social justice and how the world could maybe be made into a better place. “All this to say, there is certainly a line I can draw between me obsessively playing Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and me interviewing my sociology professor about how to read academic articles. Those surprising through lines fascinate me all the same. At my best, I’m a person who gets to be constantly fascinated by the lives and work of other people.”
His favorite quote is from his favorite jazz musician:
“A genius is the one most like himself” – Thelonious Monk.
