From Birthmother To Birthmom Counselor: What I’ve Learned Along The Way

Placing a baby for adoption is a life-changing event.

No one understands that better than Vicki, a Chicago-area resident who jokingly refers to herself as a “professional birthmom.”

Nineteen years ago, she placed her son, Kevin, in an open adoption. Afterwards, she worked as an expectant mother counselor, helping women make adoption plans for their unborn children.

Today, she is the case manager at On Your Feet Foundation, an organization that provides support to birthparents to help them get back on their feet. Continue reading →

6 Reasons You Should Join An Adoption Profile Website (Even If You Have Your Own Site)

Getting found online by expectant parents who are considering adoption used to be a straightforward affair for hopeful adoptive parents. Create a website or get someone to create one for you and voila, you’d have an instant web presence.

But the days of “If you build it, they will come” are long over. More than 150,000 new URLs are created every day. Hopeful adoptive parents not only have their own personal website, they also have their own Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Pinterest pages. Continue reading →

Why We Chose Newborn Adoption

Adopting parents choose newborn adoption for different reasons. In the case of Michelle and Greg, it was a chance encounter that first led them to think about adopting a baby.

As the Long Island, New York couple explain in their parent profile on our Adoption Profiles page, “we are so lucky to have friends that know people that adopted and they introduced us. After only a few minutes speaking with one another, it became apparent that we were meant to build our family through adoption.” Continue reading →

21 Inspirational Adoption Quotes If You’re Placing Your Baby

One good turn deserves another.

Last week I shared 25 Inspirational Quotations and Poems for Adopting Parents. This week it’s expectant parents considering adoption and their families’ turn.

Finding adoptive parents for your baby is an act of love that takes strength and courage. If you’re an expectant parent, no decision will be harder to make — or cause you to question yourself more and feel cut off from the rest of the world. Continue reading →

How My Positive Birthmother Story Made Me An Open Adoption Advocate

Laura Gladden is a 20-year-old student at Colorado Mesa University who hopes to become an adoption counselor for birth mothers. And she already has some first-hand experience in the field: she placed her daughter for adoption after an unplanned pregnancy two years ago.

Although Laura didn’t know anything about open adoption at the time, today she looks at her daughter Kinley’s adoption as a blessing. And she hopes to use her experience to educate other women experiencing an unplanned pregnancy about the positive aspects of adoption when they explore their own options. Continue reading →

25 Motivational Adoption Quotations And Poems For Adopting Parents

I don’t know about you, but I love adoption quotations and poems.

They’re so motivating, especially at this time of the year when everything seems so full of promise and possibilities.

Adopting a baby is hard work so it helps to have as many supports as possible along the way to keep you going. Quotations are a great way to lift your spirits and feel connected to a larger community.

I remember whenever we hit a bump on the road when we were adopting I would take a look at the list of quotes and poems I had collected and instantly my mood would pick up. Continue reading →

What We’re Doing To Get Matched With Prospective Birthparents

Getting matched with prospective birthparents doesn’t happen overnight. It takes patience — and a plan.

Cyra-Lea and Eddie have both. The Charlestown, Indiana couple have been together for nearly eight years and view children as life’s most wonderful blessing and its greatest responsibility. Continue reading →

Trying to Connect With A Birthmother? The One Thing You Need To Know

How do you connect with a birthmother? What does a birthmother look for when choosing adoptive parents for her baby? Is there something you can say or show in your adoption profile that will increase your chances of making a match?

These are questions that hopeful adoptive parents ask themselves all the time as they put together their adoption profile in the hopes of making a connection with a birthmother — or, more accurately, a prospective birthmother. Continue reading →

41 Ways To Get Found By A Pregnant Woman Considering Adoption

Pregnant women consider adoption for all kinds of reasons. The reasons vary as much as the women themselves. So too do the places they turn to when they’re looking for a loving adoptive family to adopt their baby.

In the past, a pregnant woman had limited choices to connect with adoptive parents due to reasons ranging from geography to accessibility. Typically, an adoption agency was the only avenue available. The expectant mother would come into an office where an adoption worker would present her with profiles of a few hopeful adoptive families. She would then choose the one that best fit her criteria. Continue reading →

Why This Year Will Be Your Year To Adopt A Baby

Happy New Year!

There’s nothing like the start of a New Year to get you fired up about your plan to adopt a baby.

This time of the year is all about new beginnings and fresh starts — a chance to look beyond the mistakes of the past and invent the future. So if adopting a baby is at the top of your list of New Year’s resolutions, congratulations! Continue reading →