Hoping to Adopt Archives

The Adoption Wait

BPetersonDesign2023-07-19T16:18:54-07:00November 13, 2021|Adoption Education, Adoption Process, Domestic infant adoption, Drug/Alcohol Exposure, Hoping to Adopt, Transracial Adoption (Learn)|

Once you’ve figured out your preferences in your adoption, what is next? The dreaded adoption wait. If you’re working with an adoption advisor like Purl, you’re likely getting on the waitlist for many different attorneys and agencies. You might be including some adoption outreach, hoping to connect with an expectant family that way. You are then waiting for an expectant family to choose you or find you through your outreach, typically speeding up your adoption journey. But it can take only a few weeks or months, or even a few years to be selected, but your chances are much better in a multi-faceted approach. Click here to read more about what to expect from the adoption wait.

The All-Important Adoption Profile

BPetersonDesign2022-03-30T11:00:54-07:00November 12, 2021|Adoption Education, Adoption Outreach, Adoption Process, Adoption Profile, Hoping to Adopt|

The Adoption Profile is one of the most important parts of the domestic adoption process! Why? Because it is typically how you are chosen by an expectant mom, or expectant parents, choosing adoption for their child. It can be difficult for expectant parents to interview or speak with numerous prospective adoptive families when making this decision, but still want to make the right choice for their child. So adoption profiles typically tell a prospective adoptive family’s story in a scrapbook-type manner, allowing expectant families to consider many different families more quickly as they make an adoption plan. Click here to read more about the adoption profile, how it is used in the domestic adoption process, and tips to create a great one!

Adoption Preferences In Your Journey

BPetersonDesign2022-03-30T11:02:10-07:00November 8, 2021|Adoption Education, Adoption Process, Drug/Alcohol Exposure, Hoping to Adopt, Open Adoption (Learn), Transracial Adoption (Learn)|

As I spoke about in my post yesterday, the domestic adoption process is so awkward in that you are essentially saying yes or no to a child. Sometimes you are doing it just by setting preferences in your adoption, but sometimes you’re actually reviewing a summary of an adoption opportunity and saying yes or no as to whether to present your family profile to the expectant family considering adoption for that child. When prospective adoptive parents start to consider their adoption preferences, many have no idea what they should say when adoption professionals ask what types of circumstances they would consider. Here are just a few of the things you should research and educate yourself on as you determine your adoption preferences, as well as some resources for helping you navigate these difficult decisions.

Choices You Must Make In Domestic Adoption

BPetersonDesign2022-03-30T11:03:24-07:00November 8, 2021|Adoption Education, Adoption is Hard, Adoption Process, Domestic infant adoption, Hoping to Adopt, Open Adoption (Learn), Transracial Adoption (Learn)|

One of the things that I like least about the domestic infant adoption process is that prospective adoptive parents are basically saying yes or no to a child. Most people outside the adoption community might not realize that prospective adoptive parents basically set their “adoption preferences”, see adoption opportunities based on those preferences and then basically have to make a choice whether to “present” to an expectant parent choosing adoption for their child. Click here to read more about this awkwardness in the domestic infant adoption process.

Choosing Adoption Professionals for Your Journey

BPetersonDesign2023-07-19T16:18:09-07:00November 4, 2021|Adoption Advisor, Adoption Education, Adoption Process, Domestic infant adoption, Hoping to Adopt|

Who you choose to help you navigate your adoption journey is probably the most important step in the domestic infant adoption process. As we have discussed many times in past blog posts, we feel the best option for domestic infant adoption is to have someone guide you through the process, like we do at Purl. We encourage you to watch our video on The Real Scoop About Hiring an Adoption Advisor we prepared a few years ago, to help you in selecting the right adoption advisor for you. To read more about how we recommend selecting attorneys/agencies in their journey, read more of our brief update below.

The Steps in a Domestic Infant Adoption Process

BPetersonDesign2023-07-19T16:17:04-07:00November 4, 2021|Adoption Advisor, Adoption Education, Adoption Home Study, Adoption Process, Adoption Profile, Domestic infant adoption, Hoping to Adopt|

Many people consider adopting but become too discouraged by the complexity of the adoption process to proceed past an initial thought. Adoption requires research, education, preparation, money and time, with a lot of challenges along the way. No two adoptions will be the same, and each state's laws are a little different, but each domestic infant adoption will typically follow the same general steps: Click here to read more about the steps we recommend in the domestic infant adoption process.

National Adoption Awareness Month

BPetersonDesign2023-07-19T16:15:08-07:00November 1, 2021|Adoption Advisor, Adoption Education, Adoption is Hard, Adoption Perspectives, Adoption Process, Domestic infant adoption, Hoping to Adopt|

During the month of November we raise awareness of adoption during National Adoption Awareness Month. While every type of adoption is recognized this month, the particular focus this month is to raise awareness about the urgent need for adoptive families for children and youth in foster care. The number of children and teens needing homes is evident by looking at AdoptUSKids or heart galleries typically showing available children by state. The history of National Adoption Awareness Month dates back to 1976 when the Governor of Massachusetts announced the first Adoption Week. This idea grew in popularity and quickly spread nation wide. In 1995, President Clinton expanded the week to the entire month of November. I have given other ideas on how to recognize National Adoption Day in years past. This year, to recognize National Adoption Awareness Month, we’re going to post each day about some topic in adoption, but focusing on education and helping families better understand the adoption process and what things you might experience if you adopt. To learn more about us and how we plan to cover National Adoption Awareness Month, click here.

A Different Life, Not a Better Life

BPetersonDesign2022-10-18T16:51:00-07:00October 19, 2021|Adoption Advisor, Adoption Education, Adoption is Hard, Adoption Perspectives, Domestic infant adoption, Hoping to Adopt, Open Adoption (Learn)|

I can’t help but focus on this key phrase now that I know more, now that I’ve spent five years listening to adoptees’ voices, particularly those adoptees that experience serious discontent with their adoptions. The phrase that hits me hard as the truth now: Different isn’t better. An adoptive parent may be able to offer a more financially stable home, more opportunities for education, extracurricular activities and travel. But, the trade off to that is that there was still maternal separation and that child will likely experience trauma and loss due to their adoption, in a transracial adoption, there might also be loss associated with separation from their culture. So that child’s life will definitely be different, the adoptee will face different hardships after an adoption than they would have had in their biological home, but there will be hardships nonetheless. Click here to read more on Katie’s reflections.

What NOT to do when you’re chosen…

BPetersonDesign2022-03-30T18:09:01-07:00July 8, 2021|Adoption Advisor, Adoption Education, Adoption is Hard, Adoption Process, Hoping to Adopt|

If you’ve been following us awhile, you’ll notice that a lot of our Purl families have recently been chosen as prospective adoptive parents by an expectant family considering adoption for their child. Being “chosen” is a necessary step in adoption. But if it comes before the time consents are signed, it is just one step in an adoption plan that may never come to fruition. For that reason, I am always very cautious about what a prospective adoptive family does when they are chosen by an expectant family. In fact, here are some things I DO NOT think you should do once you are chosen. Click here to read more.

It’s not about you…and you will likely be uncomfortable

BPetersonDesign2022-03-31T10:02:00-07:00June 10, 2021|Adoption Disruption, Adoption Education, Adoption is Hard, Adoption Perspectives, Adoption Process, Domestic infant adoption, Hoping to Adopt, Infertility, Transracial Adoption (Learn)|

If you’re starting the adoption journey you might not realize that the rest of this journey WILL NOT be about you. You might have endured a lot of pain to get here, infertility, failed IUI or IVF cycles, failed embryo adoption or surrogacy. Really, really tough stuff. But I’m going to tell you something difficult to hear, most likely if you are here now and pursuing domestic infant adoption: your mindset will now have to immediately shift and all your decisions from here need to be about your future child through adoption (the adoptee) and what is best for them. You need to be able to justify every decision you make, and feel comfortable telling your future child the decisions you made and steps you took to adopt. To read more, click here.

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