Are you an expectant parent or birth parent looking to place your child for adoption PA (Pennsylvania)? In this article, you’ll learn about the adoption placing process, adoption laws, birth parent rights, and much more about adoption in the Keystone State.
Talk With PA Adoption Counselors, Adoption Social Workers, or Friends and Family Members About the Adoption Placing Process in PA.
Talking with a Pennsylvania adoption professional about your options for adoption is a great start in figuring out how the adoption placing process works. You can talk with these professionals about your situation and why you’d like to place your child for adoption. The professional you work with will also help you with your next steps and will guide you on telling others about your adoption plan if you wish. Professionals will support you and help you with deciding on working with an agency or an adoption attorney. Most of all, the adoption professional will educate you on the laws of adoption PA, and your conversation will be completely confidential.
Talking with friends and family members who’ve chosen adoption for children in Pennsylvania is also a great idea because you can learn from others’ experiences, whether good or bad, and these people will also be able to help you with some insight on adoption plans and great agencies and attorneys in Pennsylvania to work with. Talk with those you know about how he or she felt overall about the adoption placing process. Be really attentive on how your friends and family talk about the agencies, attorneys, and the quality of services received. You can also ask a friend how she heard about the agencies and attorneys, and ask for some recommendations. If you’re unsure about what words to use when you talk to your friends and family about adoption, read the positive adoption language guide.
Look For Some Great Adoption Agencies or a Great Adoption Attorney in Pennsylvania.
Do your research on adoption agencies in PA, and research on whether you should use an adoption agency or an adoption attorney.
If you choose to work with an agency in Pennsylvania:
-The services are inclusive.
-The agency has ongoing training.
-You’ll receive free services.
-You’ll have access to many resources
-You’ll receive help with living, medical, and legal expenses.
-You’ll receive help with pregnancy-related expenses.
-Many agencies are available 24/7.
-You’ll have experienced counselors and social workers dedicated to helping you find the best family for your baby.
-You can choose the adoptive family.
-You get to create an adoption plan.
-And much more! Check out this article to learn more about how adoption agencies work.
If you choose to work with an adoption attorney in Pennsylvania:
-You’ll be working with an expert in adoption law.
-The adoption attorney represents both private and independent adoptions.
-These attorneys help you file the necessary adoption paperwork, look thoroughly over the adoption case, and finalize the adoption placing process.
-Attorneys handle the legal process and will help you place ads online, in newspapers and in social groups of potential adoptive families.
Learn the Adoption PA Laws.
It’s of the utmost importance that hopeful adoptive parents follow the adoption PA laws when these couples would like to adopt a child.
-There are no age restrictions to adopt a child in Pennsylvania. However, in individual adoption, adoptive parents must be between the ages of 22-50 years.
-Adoptive parents don’t have to be married in order to adopt, but some agencies have different requirements in regards to marital status.
-LGBTQ couples may adopt a child in PA.
-The adoptive parents must pass background checks.
-The adoptive parents must be financially stable.
-The adoptive parents must be physically, mentally, and emotionally healthy to properly care for a child.
Make an Adoption Plan.
What is an adoption plan? An adoption plan is a plan that you write out once you start the adoption placing process. This plan lets the adoption professional be aware of what you want and desire to happen, not just throughout your pregnancy, but once the baby’s born, and what you’d like to happen once your child is adopted. It can be a straightforward plan, or as detailed as you want it to be. The adoption professional will guide you and assist you with questions you may have and what other important things to include in the adoption plan. The adoption professional will ask you what type of adoption you’d like. Read up on this article on what you should consider when making an adoption plan, and this one to learn how to make an adoption plan.
Work With the Adoption Professional to Find the Adoptive Family For Your Child.
Whether choosing an agency or an attorney to work with, these organizations and people help you find the perfect adoptive family in Pennsylvania. Your social worker or attorney will show you adoptive families that are waiting to adopt a child through family profiles, and you’ll even get to choose and meet the adoptive family. You’ll learn all about the adoptive family in family profiles that will be either online or in scrapbooks, videos, emails, or letters. The adoption professional will help guide you on your choice of the adoptive family, and once you choose a family, you’ll get to officially meet the couple if you’d like. If you’re wondering what happens when you meet an adoptive family and what questions to ask the hopeful adoptive parents, read these questions that other birth parents want to ask the adoptive families before placing a child with an adoptive family. Also, you can read this article to learn more about how to find an adoptive family.
Plan the Hospital Stay.
If you’re expecting a baby, it’s a good idea to let your wants be known when you go into labor at the hospital. Besides placing your baby for adoption, the hospital plan is one of the most important parts of the adoption placing process. Choosing a great hospital and having a great OBGYN in Pennsylvania is crucial for your hospital plan. By creating a hospital plan, you’ll let the hospital staff, and adoption professionals know what you’d like to happen during your stay. You can decide if you want a private hospital stay if you want anyone with you during labor, who can hold the baby first if you want to spend some alone time with the baby, and other important details that you can think of. That way, everything that you want in your hospital and birth plan will let everyone else be on the same page and respect your wishes. You can watch this video about birth mothers talking about making a hospital plan, and for more information, read about preparing your hospital birth plan.
Life for Birth Parents Post Placement
The adoption process doesn’t necessarily end after your child is placed for adoption, especially if you’ve chosen an open or semi-open adoption. In Pennsylvania, open adoptions and semi-open adoptions weren’t an option for many years. That all changed when recent studies have shown that open adoption has many benefits, and is often the best option for all of the members involved in the adoption. So, what are the best benefits of each member of the adoption triad?
For Birth Parents:
-You can watch your child grow up happy and healthy.
-You’ll have the peace of mind knowing that your child is safe, instead of wondering how your child is doing.
-You can be confident that you’ve made the best choice.
-You can have direct communication with your child and their adoptive family.
-You can give the adoptive parents your contact information.
-You can receive photos, letters, and have visits with your child.
-You can set goals, focus on your career, and go to counseling.
-Your feelings of grief, sadness, and regret will be alleviated by seeing your child.
For the Child:
-Your child will know who you are. He will never have to wonder who his birth parents are and what you look like.
-Your child will have a bond with you.
-Your child won’t feel a void in her life or feel like she’s incomplete.
-He’ll feel secure in who he is.
-She won’t feel unwanted.
-Your child will have access to important medical information.
-The child will always have a big support system.
-He won’t feel the need to find or discover who you are.
For the Adoptive Parents:
-Adoptive parents aren’t co-parenting with you, the child is now theirs to raise, but the adoptive parents can welcome you into their lives.
-You can get to know the adoptive parents better, and the couple will get to know you better.
-The adoptive parents can form a healthy and positive relationship with you.
-The adoptive parents will be thankful that you’ve chosen them to be your child’s parents.
What about a semi-open adoption? First, let’s talk about what a semi-open adoption is. A semi-open adoption is where the agency or attorney interacts with the adoptive family instead of you. All involved are kept confidential, and interaction is sometimes limited. If your privacy is an important thing, then a semi-open adoption is a great option. Here’s why.
For the Birth Parents:
-You can see your child grow at a distance.
-You’ll have your privacy respected and communication will be carried out by the adoption professional.
-You’ll have a sense of closure and relief.
-You’ll be able to explain to your child why you chose adoption for her one day.
-You can still build a healthy and positive relationship with your child and the adoptive parents.
For the Child:
-Your child might have questions on where he came from or who his birth parents are. You’ll be able to give your child those answers.
-Your child can get to know who you are.
-Your child won’t have to feel like part of her is missing.
For the Adoptive Parents:
-You can keep the line of communication open, but with the adoption professional.
-The adoptive family will feel a sense of closure knowing who you are.
-Adoptive parents can have access to your medical history in case the child has a medical condition that’s hereditary.
-Knowing that adoptive parents were selected by you to be your child’s parents is an honorable thing.
What if you didn’t choose open or semi-open adoption? What if you chose to have a closed adoption? A closed adoption is when there are no interactions between the birth and adoptive parents. You’ll be completely confidential, and the only thing that’ll need to be known is your physical characteristics and medical information. The most common reason as to why birth parents choose closed adoption is for closure for that huge part of loved ones.
So, what are the benefits of a closed adoption for the adoption triad?
For the Child:
-It helps protect your child from a potentially troubling family history.
For the Adoptive Family:
-The couple will feel closure and have the comforting feeling of having the child closer to the family.
-The adoptive family won’t have to feel obligated to keep in touch with you.
-The family members will have privacy.
For the Birth Parents:
-You’ll have closure, and will be able to move on with your life.
-You can focus on your goals, your career, your marriage, and improve your life.
-You can talk with a counselor if you’re having a hard time with the negative feelings that come with adoption.
-You can have peace of mind about not worrying about a child.
-You won’t have feelings of obligation to keep in touch with your child and adoptive family.
-If you are a victim of sexual assault, a closed adoption would be a good option so you can move on from it.
Final Thoughts on How Adoption PA Works
Placing a child for adoption in the wonderful state of Pennsylvania is a courageous and hard decision, but it’s one you won’t regret. There’s a lot of great adoption agencies, attorneys, and adoption professionals out there, so be sure to do your research and ask friends and family who have either placed a child for adoption or have adopted children on who the couple worked with. Be familiar with the PA adoption laws. Make a great adoption plan for your child, and never regret your decision on choosing adoption for your child. Pennsylvania has many wonderful adoptive families that are waiting to adopt a child and by reading this article, you’ll feel more confident in the adoption process in PA.
Kandice Confer is an adopted twin, wife, and mother of two girls who loves spending time with her family and two rabbits. She loves reading and writing inspirational works of literature and loves telling stories.