There are many feelings associated with open adoption: excitement, elation, harmony, acceptance, expectation, friendship, thankfulness, and optimism.

Lifetime Adoption has curated this photo series, to illustrate the emotional facets of open adoption. A shared feeling in these photos is that open adoption means love!

“We were lucky to have been matched with a birth family that fit us like a glove!  They’re amazing people who wanted to give their child a wonderful life and trusted us to do so. When the big day came, we drove up to the hospital and waited patiently for updates from the birth father. When our son was born, the birth father came running out to the waiting room to congratulate us on the new arrival. We all hugged and shared joyous tears. Saying goodbye to the birthparents was bitter sweet.  We are so honored that they have given us this incredible gift. Its such a good feeling to have the family we always dreamed about. And we have a lasting bond with a remarkable couple. We think about how fortunate we are now, it makes the waiting seem like no big deal. It’s all worth it!”

-Eric and Michelle

“We were able to overcome concerns about an open adoption. Latonia communicated quite a bit with Georgia’s birthmom before she was born, drove her to the hospital and was present for Georgia’s birth. We also were able to spend the entire time Georgia was in the hospital with her.  The surprise has come from the ongoing contact with Georgia’s birthmom.  We text her every month or so with a picture and anecdote about what Georgia’s up to. Georgia’s birth mother also sends texts for her during milestones, like her birthday, Christmas and Mother’s Day. She is very respectful of us as Georgia’s parents and we’d love to share with other parents that contact with your child’s birthmom doesn’t have to be scary.”

-Brent and Latonia

“Caden is the twinkle in my eyes and the joy of my life! I am enjoying every single moment with him.

I am blessed to be able to share our story to so many and to provide my perspective on our open adoption.  I love and respect his amazing birthparents more each day and thank them and God daily for Caden!”

-Tara

“We continue to be in contact with Jayden’s first mom and in a recent email we let her know how much we admire and respect her for her choice to make an adoption plan for him. Her response was, ‘Thanks for the respect and admiration. I appreciate it. I also appreciate your family for taking him in with open arms and lots of love and giving us both an opportunity to have a fighting chance of a bright future. I want nothing but the best for him, so thank you.’  Getting to meet her and spend some time with her was very important to us. As much as we thought we were prepared to take another’s child into our arms, it was truly an eye-opener to see the love she had for him as she handed him to us. It is something we will never forget and that Jayden will always be told about. “

-Ryan and Laurie

“We have been double-blessed with a beautiful baby and an amazing birthmom.

The open adoption process was a bit intimidating at first, but well worth the ride. These past few months have been an incredible adventure and we have been blessed abundantly. Praise God!”

-Mark and Debbie

“When we first signed up with Lifetime we were a little apprehensive about the whole process, and what an open adoption would look like for us and our future. Well, I am here now to say that it is amazing. You all did such a great job of holding our hand and walking us through the process. We put our faith in you, and boy was it ever worth it! We now have a beautiful son Greyson and a great relationship with his birth mom too. Open adoption has been a true blessing for our family!

When our son made his entrance into the world, the hospital gave us a room to spend the days with him and we would also take turns going down and sitting with his birth mother. She had requested to not see Greyson because she felt like that would be harder for her, but we wanted to make sure that she knew we loved her too. We decided to honor Greyson’s birth mother with his middle name.

We keep in contact with his birth mother via text messages, pictures and videos. We plan to travel to her around Grey’s first birthday so that Grey and his birth mother will get to see and know each other. We are thankful every day for the gift that she has given us!”

-David and Kayla

“We keep in contact with our daughter Gracelyn’s birth family and have kept our open adoption agreement; they are awesome. We also drove to the town where they live and attended the zoo! We do plan to keep in touch with them and meet up a least once a year. We want Gracelyn to know her other two siblings as well. We will keep in touch with you guys as well. Thanks again to our forever family!”

-Jesus & Ronna

Are you ready to begin your own journey towards an open adoption? Take the first step today and fill out Lifetime’s free online application to adopt!

Written by Heidi Keefer

Heidi Keefer is a Content Creator for Lifetime Adoption and has 15 years of experience in the field of adoption. An author of thousands of blog posts over the years, Heidi enjoys finding new ways to educate and captivate Lifetime’s ever-growing list of subscribers.

Heidi has a keen eye for misplaced apostrophes, comma splices, and well-turned sentences, which she has put to good use as a contributor to Lifetime’s award-winning blogs. She has written and published hundreds of adoption articles which explore the various facets of domestic infant adoption today.