So you decided that you want to adopt a baby or child. You are excited and committed to your decision. If you had gone through fertility treatments, you have put away the calendars, hormone injections, and have decided to put that part of your past behind you and move forward. You are ready to build your family through adoption. But then you can’t even figure out where to begin the process.
Anna recently posted on finding information about starting the adoption process through the state. Therefore, I thought this would be a good opportunity as well to talk about starting the process of adopting in general. The adoption process can seem complex and overwhelming if you’ve never adopted before. But there are some primary steps that you can start with to begin your adoption journey.
The first step is really about gathering information to help you make decisions about what direction to take. I have briefly outlined a couple of these steps below, but will elaborate more on the steps in further posts.
1. Gather information and decide if you want to adopt through the state, domestically, or internationally. You can get this information through the internet, finding local seminars about adoption, and talking to other adoptive parents. If you are using the internet I would recommend visiting websites such as Adoption.com and as Anna mentioned in her post the National Adoption Information Clearinghouse to begin researching.
2. If you have decided to adopt internationally or domestically then you need to decided if you want to go through an agency, privately with an adoption attorney, or an adoption facilitator. If you choose to go through the state, I ask that you continue to read Anna’s post since she has the knowledge and experience in how to proceed. Again gather information by reading books, looking at adoption websites, and talking to other adoptive parents.
3. Stay organized. You will be gathering a lot of information throughout the process. Buy a folder to keep all your information and a notebook to write down information. The more organized you are from the very beginning the easier the entire process will be.
4. Lastly, enjoy the journey. Try not to get too overwhelmed with all the complexities. Just like a pregnancy the journey will have good and not so good days. There also may be some set backs during your journey. But try not to get discouraged for long. In the end it is a very exciting time that will have a happy ending for all.
KV Sheldon