Creating an Adoption Plan as a Birth Mother in Colorado
Deciding to place your child for adoption in Colorado can be an exciting and overwhelming time. How exactly do you get to your dream of having your child placed in a loving home?
Adoption Choices of Colorado is here to provide you with any and all of your needs during the adoption process. Understanding what to expect when creating an adoption plan can help alleviate any potential anxiety around the process itself. While the process may vary based on the type of adoption you choose and your individual preferences, the general format remains the same.
Free Counseling Services
Our adoption agency offers free counseling services to any birth mothers and supportive family, friends, or birth fathers. You don’t have to have already determined that adoption is the choice for you to access this service. Our counselors are professional and trained individuals who are here to listen to your thoughts, feelings, fears, and desires with care and compassion and without judgment. This space can be a great place to sort through your available options, receive information about the choices available to you as well as the services we provide. Counseling may also help you to determine what is important to you and what type of adoption plan might work best for you.
Choosing what Type of Adoption You Desire
There are three main types of adoption plans: open, closed and semi-open. Closed adoptions allow for the most privacy. Your chosen adoptive parent(s) and child will have no information or contact for you. You’ll remain completely anonymous. Semi-open adoptions allow you to receive updates on your child from a distance through our secure, confidential online portal called ChildConnect.
Open adoptions allow for you to have an ongoing relationship with your child and their adoptive family. This may include updates, phone calls and/or visits. There’s a huge range within open adoptions of how involved you can be in your child’s life. Discussing your specific desires around the amount of contact is important to creating an adoption plan that best meets your desires.
Selecting Your Child’s Adoptive Family
One of our adoption caseworkers will provide you with prospective adoptive parent(s) profiles. This way, you can gain insight into the various backgrounds and help you decide what kind of life you want for your child. If you have a hard time narrowing down the options, your adoption caseworker will assist you in identifying what is most important to you.
Once you’ve selected a couple or individual, depending on the level of openness you choose, you can get a chance to connect with your child’s adoptive parents and ask any questions you have. Having these conversations will help you feel secure and know that your child will be loved and provided for.
Formalizing Your Adoption Plan
Your Adoption Choices of Colorado caseworker will help you to get your adoption plan down in writing. Working together to articulate your desired amount of contact and creating an adoption plan that you and your child’s adoptive parents agree to ahead of time can give you peace of mind going forward. Unfortunately, we can not legally enforce these agreements after placing your child for adoption, so it is important to be in clear communication with your chosen adoptive parents and develop a sense of trust and rapport.
The Hospital and Placement
We will also help you in creating a hospital plan if you desire to spend some time with your baby before placing them with your chosen adoptive parents. Making plans ahead of time for this special and often emotional moment can feel comforting. Yet, remember that these plans don’t have to be set in stone. If you didn’t want to hold your baby before, but, on the day of, change your mind, that is completely okay. All you have to do is let your adoption caseworker know and they will handle everything.
Upon completing the adoption paperwork required, and signing away your parental rights, your child will be ready to go home with their new adoptive parents.
Post Placement
After placing your child for adoption, you may need some time to grieve. We continue to provide you with free counseling services and support after you place your child and encourage you to practice self-care during this time. Then, when you’re ready, you’ll get to follow through on whatever your adoption plan is! T
Creating an Adoption Plan as a Birth Mother in CO
The adoption process can feel overwhelming or new as a birth mother facing unplanned pregnancy. Adoption Choices of Colorado provides you with ongoing support you need to establish the best adoption plan for you and your child. Our staff is knowledgeable, professional and cares about you and your child’s best interests. Contact us today to get started receiving the support you need to create your ideal adoption plan.
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: Kara Bringewatt is an English major and psychology minor at Queens University of Charlotte. She plans to get her masters in social work and work at a nonprofit as a case manager for at-risk youth. She loves using writing as a means of creating community and bringing attention to causes she’s passionate about.
Kara is particularly interested in educational and mental health interventions for young people in foster care. She’s worked as a tutor, professional caregiver, preschool teacher and acting instructor, and loves being able to utilize her wide range of passions to support young people and plans on being a foster and adoptive parent.
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!