Can I Place My Baby for Adoption if I am Pregnant and Addicted?
If you are struggling with addiction and find yourself unexpectedly pregnant, adoption is a viable option for you. Adoption Choices of Colorado is more than willing to work with you on deciding what is best for your unborn child. While we maintain that we are not a treatment facility, we are more than willing to help you with your adoption plan and find resources to keep you from drug abuse.
A Support System
Navigating drug addiction is an immensely difficult task. It is something that cannot be done alone. If you find yourself pregnant and addicted, it is encouraged that you seek support and work on getting yourself sober. We are more than happy to provide you with regular counseling while you contemplate adoption and other options of child-rearing.
You don’t need to be fearful seeking adoption support while struggling with an addiction to drug abuse. The choices you make for your child are still yours to make. We want to help you to find resources to keep you sober, so you are best equipped to make these choices.
A Healthy Pregnancy
Addiction carries a series of challenges, chief amongst them being a devotion to drugs above all things. This can make it extremely hard to have a healthy pregnancy. If you find yourself pregnant and addicted, it is essential that you make whatever moves are necessary in order to get sober. One of the most important first steps in a healthy pregnancy is proper prenatal care. It is vital that you know that being drug tested in your early screenings and doctor’s appointments is mandatory.If the results are positive this could potentially cause difficulties with the custody of your child. However, if you are considering adoption, you may wish for an open adoption so that you may still have a presence in your child’s life. The adoption process will be much smoother if you make a commitment to staying clean, for both you and your baby.
We at Adoption Choices of Colorado understand the complexities of addiction and want to support you while you go through these challenging times. We are happy to provide transportation to any doctor’s appointments or tours of hospital facilities. We are also willing to help you apply for Medicaid and discuss additional medical expenses that can be covered by the adoptive family. If you are struggling with addiction, these kinds of initiatives could be life-changing.
Placing Your Child in an Adoptive Family
If you are dealing with addiction during pregnancy, you have to help yourself first by getting clean. That is what helps your baby. However, staying clean while caring for a newborn is no small feat. To place your child with an adoptive family can be very heart-wrenching. However, it may be the best solution for both you and the child. It allows you to focus on the betterment of your own life and trying to stay free of your addictions. This will also allow your child to grow up in a home with safe and loving parents, where their exposure to drug abuse will be non-existent.
This may feel like admitting defeat, and we don’t underestimate the grief that placing a child for adoption can cause. However, this is really a show of strength. It’s a labor of love to give your child the best chance at life possible. If you are fearful of adoptive families judging or passing over your child, there’s no need. There are many wonderful and loving families that are more than willing to take a baby that has been exposed to drug addiction.
Support Groups
One aspect that the adoption process and drug addiction have in common is the need for support groups. There is such value in sharing your experiences with others who can relate. We know you may feel isolated and like there is no worth in what you have to say, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Adoption Choices of Colorado provides free support groups with other birth mothers and staff. These birth mothers have either gone through the adoption process, or are currently experiencing it.
We understand that your addiction may play a role in your decision to choose adoption. While we are not a treatment facility for drug addiction, we are here to listen to your grievances. Our counseling staff is fully prepped to help you work through any traumas that may have surrounded your life during the adoption process. For, when it comes to dealing with the intricacies of drug addiction, we advise you to seek out professionals in that field. If you need any assistance with finding those resources, we are more than happy to help you.
Protect Your Child
There is no shame in needing support and counseling for anything, especially issues like addiction and adoption. For some birth mothers, this may be the best way to protect your child. If you’re scared that you cannot care for a child at this stage of your life, placing them with a loving adoptive family is the best form of care. This is especially true for an addict, where it is highly necessary to improve your own quality of life in order to be there for other people. It ensures a better life for your child, and for you, with the possibility of you both forming some sort of relationship in the future. Many birth mothers have found that in choosing adoption, they did right by their kids.
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: Katherine Burns is a journalism student at Loyola University Maryland with plans to pursue a career in the news and magazine industries. With over three years of experience writing for the Greyhound Newspaper at Loyola, Katherine specializes in Op-eds. However, she has recently branched out to cover a variety of topics, including education and sports journalism. She also has ample experience with travel blogging.
Katherine has conducted a variety of interviews in her time at Loyola and has displayed her stories through differing forms of media. In addition to her studies at Loyola, Katherine spent the fall of 2019 studying communications at the American University of Paris.To learn more about Katherine, be sure to check her out on social media.
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!