6 Reasons to Place Your Baby for Adoption as a Birth Mother
Placing your child for adoption is not the easiest thing in the world, but it may just be the right choice for you, your baby, and your loved ones. Here at Adoption Choices of Colorado, we understand that you are facing a big choice and we want to help you on your journey. It can be comforting to know that you are not alone in your situation. Other women have also placed their children for adoption and, while you may not share their exact experiences going forward, there are some common recurring ideas that are brought up during the adoption process.
Here (in no particular order) are six common reasons to place your baby for adoption as a birth mother.
- Unintended Pregnancy
It can be a surprise, or even a complete shock, to find yourself pregnant when you had no plans to be pregnant. No one likes to be caught off guard with potential years of commitment when they are not ready. This is a perfectly natural and understandable reason for wanting to place your child for adoption.
While an unplanned pregnancy is fine for some, there are a myriad of reasons why it might not work for you. You may not be ready to be a mother or have never had an interest in being a mother. Becoming a potential parent might also not have been your choice. Whatever the case is, you deserve resources and a final say on the subject
- Financial Constraints
This also leans into the idea of not being ready, which is completely okay. Lack of readiness is not a bad thing in this case. You aren’t expected to jump into action. Not everyone has the income or savings to raise a child. It can take years of planning to allot money for a family or might also mean pushing some of your personal aspirations to the side. It takes a lot of willpower and juggling to balance childcare and other pre-commitments like education or a career. You may not be there mentally and that is perfectly fine.
When you work with Adoption Choices of Colorado we will help support you financially.
- A Better Future
This might sound like it ties directly into the first two reasonings that we discussed. In many ways, it does. All of these reasonings can overlap, intersect, and contribute to your decision to place your child for adoption. However, outside of just unpreparedness and money concerns, there are other considerations, especially when it comes to emotional support for your child. Plenty of families have survived surprise pregnancies and financial hardship, but you may also worry about the safety or care of your environment. You may have well-founded concerns for not wanting to raise a child where you live.
Fortunately, if you do go through the adoption process with us, we will work to help you choose an ideal family for your child. You get to decide where your child ends up and can even lay out your feelings for how often you would like to see your child in the future.
- Avoiding Foster Care
There are cases where a birth mother may have an unfavorable connection with child protection services. If that sounds like you, you probably know that foster care would give you less options. Lack of control over your child’s future can be very scary, but by choosing adoption, you have the option and control your selection of an ideal adoptive family. This very much builds off the ideas mentioned earlier of wanting to give your child a safe environment and a better future.
- Moral or Religious Ideals
You may have beliefs that prevent you from having an abortion. Perhaps these moral or religious world views stem from your childhood. Or, perhaps they are just personal convictions. Whatever the case may be, terminating your pregnancy is not something you plan on considering, leaving adoption as your next and most likely choice.
These moral and religious ideals you may have are important to you and will also be important to us at Adoption Choices of Colorado. We are not religiously affiliated in any way, but we will work for you and with you to preserve your values during your adoption journey.
- Creating Something Positive
Just because you might not be ready to parent doesn’t mean that you can’t make something amazing happen out of the adoption process. The families you may look at as potential adoptive candidates are not faceless entities. You could be providing complete joy for people who would otherwise not have a child.
Often, there is a negative cloud that surrounds adoption, despite many happy success stories. A birth mother may choose not just the best family, but the best family in need. Looking back on adoption as a process for you could be full of pride and love that other paths may not offer for you.
Placing Your Child for Adoption in Colorado
Obviously, this is not an exhaustive list of reasons to place your baby for adoption as a birth mother, but it is a good place to begin. No one’s situation is exactly the same, but there are underlying concerns that everyone shares — safety, emotional care, financial capability, potential regret, moral responsibility, and others. Placing your child for adoption does not have to be the challenge it is made out to be in some areas of society. Many birth mothers have had adoption journeys that have resulted in success and happiness, and we know the same can be achieved for you. Adoption Choices of Colorado is incredibly supportive and we will help you every step of the way.
If you are facing an unplanned pregnancy and want to learn more about your adoption options, contact Adoption Choices of Colorado by email, phone, or text: Email Us, Text us: 720-371-1099, Call us: 303-670-4673 (HOPE). If you are hoping to adopt, please contact us here.
Meet the Author: Nathan Dyer is a university student majoring in Communication Arts with a radio/TV/film focus. He enjoys writing professionally and dealing with hands-on problems in real-world scenarios. Among his hobbies is hiking, which always encourages him to explore new places. He looks forward to crafting written materials in the future that serve to help people from all walks of life.
Stephanie joined the Adoption Choices family in 2014 as the Child Placement Supervisor. Her love for adoption began in first grade when she made friends with twins adopted from Vietnam. Her heart grew strong over the years for adopted children and ultimately led her to graduate school where she continued her focus to her dream of working in the adoption field. Stephanie earned a Master of Social Work degree from the University of Denver in 2001. Over the past 15 years, Stephanie has worked as a pregnancy counselor and as an adoptive parent counselor for foster care, international adoption and domestic adoption, writing hundreds of home studies for families, and helping build their forever families. Stephanie is married and has three boys ages 12, 9, and 5. Together with her family she enjoys riding bike, playing games, watching her three sons compete in their various sporting and musical activities and go on vacations.
Christy Ikeler, is our Executive Director and Birth Parent Director. Christy has been with Adoption Choices Team for 18 years, since opening the doors in 2002! Christy has a true passion for what she does and her true love is working with and helping each birth parent. Whether she is up all night on the phone talking with them, taking them to doctors appointments, out for their favorite treat, providing counseling or at the hospital during labor and delivery, Christy is very involved every step of the way. She has a contagious laugh and a spunky personality that our birth moms all can bond with and relate to. As an adoptive parent herself, adoption holds a very special place in her heart and she can relate on every level with both birth parents and adoptive parents. In her free time Christy loves spending time with her daughter, gardening, baking and taking vacations with her family. Christy is an excellent leader for our team at Adoption Choices and is truly one of a kind!! As Executive Director, Christy spends time with the staff, birth parents and adoptive families in order to ensure that the agency is running smoothly. She has placed a huge emphasis on community outreach and programs for birth parents. Christy loves the opportunity to lead the agency into a brighter future.
Ms. Mackenzie has built a successful counseling career over the past 20 years, supporting mothers and families, people of all ages and genders, students, community professionals and fellow clinicians. Liv values a diverse professional focus, including the entrepreneurial life of a sole proprietor, the evaluative process of certifying foster/adoptive homes, the insightful and mindful one-on-one one work with enthusiastic clients, and serving as an advocate for underserved populations. Liv is a Licensed Professional Counselor and holds a BA in Pre-Law and Economics from American University, an MA in Counseling from Adams University and a certificate in Human Resource Management from Villanova University. Away from work you will find Liv spending time in nature, biking to the farmer’s market and adventuring with her family.
Catherine A. Madsen, joined the Adoption Choices family as legal counsel in 2013. Catherine is responsible for providing legal guidance to the Agency, training and updating staff on developments in adoption law and legislation, and program development. Catherine
Virginia Frank is an adoption attorney accredited since 1991 with the American Academy of Adoption Attorneys. Ms. Frank is a leader in the field of private adoption and has completed over 4,000 adoptions in her career. Ms. Frank has a law degree from Oklahoma City University and a BA in both Political Science and Communications from the University of Oklahoma.
Cassidie has been with Adoption Choices since 2015, she has her bachelors in Interdisciplinary Affairs with concentrations in both Sociology and Business Management. Cassidie has additional training in Victim Advocacy, foster care and has been working in women’s services for over 10 years. Cassidie has always had a heart for adoption and it was her career dream to work in adoption. She started off doing volunteer work for advocacy programs, adoption organizations and worked in High Risk Maternal Fetal Medicine through the University of Colorado Hospital and Children’s Hospital of Colorado. Cassidie is also blessed to have personally experienced an adoption of her own in 2012, completing her family of five! Cassidie loves what she does as a case worker from initial phone calls, meetings, doctor appointments, interaction with the adoptive families to delivery and counseling. Cassidie has a passion for those in need and strives to help make a difference in the lives of the people she meets. She is a firm believer in being kind, compassionate and open minded in all situations. “Unless you’ve walked in their shoes, there’s no place for judgment. A kind word or compliment can go a long way!” The bittersweet moments in adoption reminds Cassidie each and every time, why she loves what she does!