Can I Still Receive Arizona Adoption Services While in Jail or Prison?
As an incarcerated woman, you have the same rights as any other birth mother when choosing adoption services. If you are unable to or do not wish to raise your child yourself, adoption is a wonderful opportunity to give your child a beautiful life with a caring family of their own. As a birth mother, you have the right to choose your child’s adoptive family and the adoption agreement, especially if you choose Adoption Choices of Arizona as your adoption agency.
If you need adoption help now, please call or text us at 1-480-900-5520 or visit us at Adoption Choices of Arizona.
Choosing Your Child’s Adoptive Family
Regardless of your status as an incarcerated individual, you have as much a right as anyone else to choose your child’s family yourself. You have the right to decide if you would rather a family raise your child with children or without. You can decide whether or not you would prefer an adoptive parent who is single or part of a married couple. You can decide if you prefer your child’s adoptive parents to have a religious, racial, or ethnic background. Some birth mothers prefer their child to be raised in a very different household than they were raised in, while others prefer families of very similar backgrounds to raise their children with similar values that they themselves were raised in.
Arizona Adoption Agreements and Visitation
Whether or not you are currently in prison, you have the right to visitation, updates, and contact, as much as any other birth mother placing their child up for adoption. Depending on the adoption agreement you choose, this adoption agreement will dictate the amount of future contact you have with your child and their family.
Open Arizona Adoption Plan
If you have chosen an open adoption plan, your child may be able to be brought to you during visiting hours while you are incarcerated. Otherwise, you may have future visitation upon your release, depending on what the agreement says and the decisions made between you and your child’s adoptive family. Besides visitation, you may have phone calls, facetime calls, or even exchange letters and emails with your child and their adoptive family.
Semi-Open Arizona Adoption Plan
Choosing a semi-open adoption plan allows you to have more privacy while still having some form of contact with your child and their adoptive parents. This could include the possibility of letters, emails, the occasional phone call, or facetime call while still maintaining a chosen distance from your child and their Arizona adoption. Some birth mothers find the experience very difficult and choose to distance themselves from the memory and experience. Other birth mothers choose to keep in touch with their children and make peace with that part of their life. It is completely up to you.
Closed Arizona Adoption Plan
Deciding on a closed adoption plan can be a good choice if you wish to distance yourself from your Phoenix adoption experience. A closed adoption plan means there would be very little if any contact in the future. Arizona adoption records are sealed when it is a closed adoption, and only the information you allow your child’s parents to disclose will be passed on to the child. Some birth mothers choose to have no contact with the adoptive family and ask for it to happen through their caseworker or representative, which is why they choose a closed adoption agreement. This can happen if the birth mother wishes to give their child up for adoption and then move on without looking back. This can be due to emotional pain from this process or because she does not wish to dwell on the adoption process and merely give her child a great life while maintaining her own. You may choose this plan whether you are in prison or free.
Arizona Adoption Agency Services
Even while being incarcerated, you still have access to many great resources and services as a birth mother in the Adoption Choices community. For instance, if you would like to pursue counseling services at any time or housing resources upon release from prison and the end of your sentence, Adoption Choices of Arizona can help you with these things. We can also help you with any medical bills or aid throughout and following your pregnancy and recovery. Your caseworker can also help to advocate for you, especially in terms of medical care and delivery while incarcerated. Medical care in prisons is unfortunately not always the best, and having your Adoption Choices team on your side may help you to have a more comfortable and respected birth. It doesn’t matter to us whether or not you are currently in prison, or about to be released, or whether you were never in prison at all. We care about all of our birth mothers and their children, regardless of their backgrounds. We will be here for you, so call today. Our help is not far away.
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: Carly is a recent graduate of Connecticut College with a dual degree in Psychology and Italian Studies. Graduating Cum Laude with honors in both Psychology and Italian departments, Carly has a background in gender-related research through the Connecticut College Psychology Department and Honors Theses Program. When not trying to figure out life or working, Carly is reading historical fiction novels or playing with her black cat, Isabelle.
