As you begin to look into adoption, you may have questions about the benefits of domestic adoption. This may come on the heels of one of the most significant choices you’ll make: whether to adopt within the United States or internationally.

A common misunderstanding is that there are no babies available for adoption in the U.S. The truth is, there are thousands of infants placed for adoption within our country every year. In fact, according to the U.S. Children’s Bureau, an agency run by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (Administration for Children and Families), the number of children available for adoption has remained high — and fairly steady — for at least a decade.

“As the year-end count of children in care began to increase during the period FY 2013 through FY 2018,” they write, “the numbers of children waiting for adoption also grew, going from a low in FY 2013 of 102,000 up to 125,000 in FY 2018. It then decreased slightly to 122,000 for FY 2019. However, the percentage of children who are defined as waiting to be adopted has remained relatively stable over the last decade.”

With domestic adoption today, you can have a clear adoption process and be able to connect with birth parents. Keep reading to find out more about the benefits of domestic adoption!

Benefits of Domestic Adoptions

The most important benefit of domestic adoption is that it creates the opportunity for an open adoption relationship. With open adoption, birth mothers have a say in who adopts their baby as well as the amount of communication they’d like after the adoption.

After the adoption placement happens, birth parents can get updates on their child through letters, emails, photos, or phone calls.

Sometimes, the adoptive parents, birth parents, and the child visit a few times a year.

After you match with a birth mother, you’ll talk and decide on what level of communication works best for all of you. Open adoption gives your child the ability to grow up with lots of people who love them!

Also, in choosing domestic adoption, you can benefit from an open adoption relationship that wouldn’t be available with international adoption. In domestic adoption, there’s no mystery about who your child’s birth parents are and why they chose adoption.

This is not always the case with international adoptions.

One adoptive mother who adopted her child internationally shares her experience.

“I wish that I had more information to share with my daughter about her story and her birth mother like adoptive parents do in domestic open adoptions,” she says.

“We have very little info,” she continues, “other than she was extremely loved because her birth mother chose to give her life. She hid her pregnancy and fought against having an abortion, which was sometimes forced in China.”

The circumstances of this particular adoption are quite dramatic.

“Our daughter was found in front of an orphanage gate with a red piece of paper that had her lunar birthday and Western birthday listed,” the adoptive mom shares. “How do we explain it’s a loving choice to be abandoned? It’s difficult for a child to understand.”

Experience and Success

Since 1986, Lifetime Adoption has worked with families nationwide. We are at the forefront of adoption services, including the fact that we were the first adoption agency of its kind to launch an online platform to help people adopt.

Of those adopted children, about 92% are newborns. The rest consists of children between the ages of 6 months and 7 years old.

Long story short: Our adoption program remains extremely successful at matching expectant mothers with adoptive families. Our adoption programs result in about 12 adoptions every month.

Thus, as the U.S. Children’s Bureau reports and our own internal statistics prove, there is plenty of opportunity for adoptive families seeking children to adopt.

Choosing adoption and working with the adoption professionals at Lifetime means you will be informed at every step of info about the birth family.

There are many benefits to a domestic, open adoption for you, the adoptive parents, too! You’ll have access to your child’s medical history if needed. And we’ve found that open adoption helps birth mothers become more confident in their decision to place.

Most importantly, an open adoption will benefit your child. They’ll know why they were placed for adoption, and that their adoptive family was hand-picked to provide them stability.

You can see how a domestic, open adoption really benefits everyone involved.

Wondering what it’s like to adopt domestically with Lifetime Adoption agency? Tune into our Adoption Story Webinars and hear from adoptive families who successfully adopted in the U.S.

Beyond that, we remain steadfast in our commitment to helping families like yours connect with birth mothers and getting started on adoption plans. If you have any questions whatsoever about the benefits of domestic adoption — or any other questions or concerns — please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

We can assist you and find answers to lots of common questions regarding adoption wait times, home studies, adoption laws, and so much more. We look forward to speaking with you.

Editor’s Note: This article was originally published on October 16, 2017, and has since been updated. 

 

Wondering what a domestic adoption journey is like with Lifetime? Tune into our Adoption Story Webinars and hear from adoptive families who successfully adopted in the US!