Adoption When the Birth Father is Abusive
By Melissa Camacho
If you feel you will have difficulty pursuing adoption in Colorado because the birth father is abusive, we can help. First, our adoption team at Adoption Choices of Colorado wants you to know it’s ok to be afraid. It’s a very stressful and traumatic experience to safely manage an unplanned pregnancy with that constant feeling of being threatened. Being in any type of abusive relationship, such as mental, physical, and sexual abuse, can interfere with your decision to choose adoption. Working with an empathetic, reliable, trustworthy, and resourceful private adoption agency like Adoption Choices of Colorado will empower you to explore your options.
Choosing adoption in Colorado helps you personalize your adoption plan. It’s also our mission to protect the rights of all birth moms. With a private adoption agency in Colorado, you will explore the benefits of pursuing an open adoption and getting financial and emotional support. We understand that making decisions when it comes to adoption isn’t an easy task. Our adoption professionals are here to make your adoption journey less challenging.
How a Private Adoption in Colorado Can Protect You During the Adoption Process
Creating an adoption plan can be less stressful while you seek protection with our adoption resources. There is much to benefit if you are placing your baby for private adoption in Colorado. We can help you reduce your fear and any potential risks that will harm you and your unborn baby. You don’t need to be under high amounts of stress and anxiety during the adoption process.
In the meantime, the birth father can have paternity rights if he is proven to be the father of your baby. However, when you contact one of our adoption agencies in Colorado, we can assign you to a caseworker. The caseworker will determine legal actions you can take to protect yourself from any type of abuse. If the birth father is proven to be abusive in any form, such as mental, physical, or sexual, his rights can be revoked. You can also inquire about getting a restraining order with your caseworker.
With Adoption Choices of Colorado, we encourage you to find other ways to keep yourself safe from threats or experiencing domestic violence. This entails looking up domestic violence prevention sites and chatting with anti-domestic violence representatives.
To access resources on domestic violence and speak with a domestic violence representative, you can contact:
- Colorado Coalition Against Domestic Violence Hotline at: 1-800-799-1233
- National Domestic Violence Hotline at: 1-800-799-SAFE (7233)
If you prefer, you can call 911 to report the abuse. You may want some privacy to speak with a 911 operator. Use language codes for the operator to be able to identify the situation. Language codes replace specific words that originally describe the issue but are not relevant to the issue. For example, you can say, I would like the groceries delivered to my home address. For information on using language codes, speak with your caseworker or adoption specialist.
Learning About Your Adoption Options in Pursuing an Adoption Plan
As you begin your search for private adoption agencies near me, you can contact a private adoption agency in Denver, Colorado Springs, or Boulder.
Next, you will schedule a virtual or in-person meeting with an adoption specialist. Then you will have opportunities to discuss available options, such as choosing an open-adoption, semi-adoption, or closed-adoption. The type of adoption you choose will set the level of communication you want with the adoptive family.
For example, open adoption is the highest level of communication you can get. This means you will have as much open communication with the adoptive family as you want. You can communicate through social media, messaging, letters, phone calls, and family visits. It’s a great option offered by our private adoption agencies to:
- Allow our birth mothers to connect with the adoptive family
- Keep track of their child’s well-being and growing progress
- Show how much you care and love your child even though you will not be entitled to parenting rights
If you choose a semi-adoption, you can communicate with the adoptive family, but through an adoption agency or third party. To terminate any level of communication with the adoptive family and your child, you can choose a closed adoption.
We provide financial help, such as financial assistance to pay for housing, utility bills, groceries, food, rent, medical, transportation, and maternity expenses. In addition, we offer counseling support services for birth mothers struggling to maintain their mental and physical health. You can discuss topics such as how to put a child up for adoption, domestic violence, and grief of losing your parenting rights.
After your adoption is finalized, your financial and counseling services can be extended through our Post-Placement support services for up to six weeks. Our Post-Placement support services can give you time to recover.
We Can Help You Find and Choose the Best Adoptive Family for Your Child
There are waiting for families across Colorado who would love to adopt your child. Every birth mother has her own standards and preferences in choosing the most suitable adoptive family. Take as much time to narrow down your options and weigh out the pros and cons. Keep in mind that after the adoption is finalized, you will relinquish your parenting rights. The adoptive family will legally obtain the parenting rights for your child.
Background screenings, face-to-face interviews, and reviews of financial and legal documents will be conducted by a caseworker. This will ensure that the adoptive family is qualified to adopt your child and will grow up in a safe and loving environment. For more information on choosing an adoptive family, speak with your adoption specialist.
Get the Help You Need With Our Adoption Agencies in Colorado
We will not pressure, criticize, or judge the options you choose to personalize your adoption plan. Our goal is to help you be comfortable with any decision you make to solve an unexpected, unwanted, or unplanned pregnancy. Seek help from our adoption professionals to protect you and your unborn baby. It will help you focus more on your options, clarify your situation, and be more open to multiple outcomes. Reach out to our adoption agencies in Colorado today!
Our branch of support is where birth mothers come together to strengthen the lives of the adoption community. If you are facing an unplanned pregnancy and want to learn more about your adoption options, contact Adoption and Surrogacy 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.
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!