Your Checklist for Learning About Adoption

by | Feb 9, 2018 | Adoptive Families Blog

tommy-kaycee-success.jpgLifetime recently launched a new blog series, “Your Adoption Checklist.” With this series, we will share practical, easy-to-follow checklists that will give you guidance during your adoption journey. In the first installment of this series, we shared a checklist of 20 questions to ask potential adoption professionals

Today, we’re sharing methods that can help you effectively learn about the adoption process. There are many facets to domestic, infant adoption. It’s important for hopeful adoptive parents to educate themselves on as many areas of domestic adoption as they can, to ensure a healthy, safe adoption journey.

Here’s our checklist of 7 practical ways that you can effectively learn more about the domestic adoption process:

Attend and participate in adoption webinars
Lifetime Adoption frequently hosts free webinars which cover a wide range of topics, like open adoption, home studies, adoption funding, birth mother perspectives, answers to frequently-asked questions, and more! Visit AdoptionWebinar.com to sign up for access to webinar recordings, and to be notified of future events.

Read adoption books
It might seem like most anything you’d want to learn about can be found online now, but books remain important educational tools. Educating yourself and learning all you can about adoption before you get started will make your adoption journey less stressful. Check out Lifetime’s list of recommended adoption books

Hear adoption success stories
You can learn a lot about domestic infant adoption by hearing from couples who have recently adopted! Read about adoption success stories by visiting our “Lifetime Babies” page. You can also hear about domestic adoption success by tuning into adoption story webinarsEvery adoption success story you hear will provide encouragement and help as you think about adopting a child. 

 Discover smart methods for adoption funding
Many hopeful adoptive couples wonder how they’ll ever afford adoption. So, it’s smart to begin researching methods for adoption financing now. A great resource to learn about adoption loans, adoption grants, and adoption fundraising ideas is AdoptionFinancingInformation.com

 Check out adoption situations
While you’re researching adoption professionals, make sure to ask about the adoption situations they’re currently working with. This will allow you to determine if the situations they typically see are what you’re seeking in adoption. Lifetime Adoption maintains and updates a page on our site that lists the birth parents we’re helping: Adoption Situations – Birth Parents Seeking Adoptive Families.

 Get a birth mother’s point-of-view
Hopeful adoptive couples who know a bit about what their birth mother is going through can achieve a strong, healthy relationship with her.  Learning about birth mothers and their situation will help you later when you share your child’s adoption story with him or her and they ask about their birth mom. Discover how you can learn about birth mothers in this helpful blog post.

 Learn adoption terminology
In domestic adoption, there are unique terms which you’ll need to know. Just a few examples are “home study,” “interstate adoption,” and “finalization.” You can discover what they mean by checking out the glossary of an adoption book, such as Adoption: Your Step-by-Step Guide.

Feel free to save this list to your phone or just print it out. We hope that you find this checklist useful as you begin your adoption journey! Please don’t hesitate to reach out to Lifetime if you have questions. You can call Lifetime at
530-271-1740, or send us an email.

Mardie Caldwell, C.O.A.P.

Written by Mardie Caldwell, C.O.A.P.

Founder of Lifetime Adoption, adoptive mom, adoption expert, and Certified Open Adoption Practitioner (C.O.A.P).

Since 1986, adoption expert Mardie Caldwell has been dedicated to bringing couples and birth parents together in order to fulfill their dreams.

“Many years ago, I was also searching for a child to adopt. We didn’t know where or how to get started. Through research, determination, and a prayer, our dream of a family became reality. I started with a plan, a notebook, assistance from a caring adoption consultant and a lot of hard work; this was my family I was building. We had a few heartaches along the way, but the pain of not having children was worse!

Within weeks we had three different birth mothers choose us. We were overwhelmed and delighted. Many unsettling events would take place before our adoption would be finalized, many months later. Little did I know that God was training and aligning me for the adoption work I now do today. It is my goal to share with our families the methods and plans which succeed and do not succeed. I believe adoption should be affordable and can be a wonderful “pregnancy” for the adoptive couple.

I have also been on both sides of infertility with the loss of seven pregnancies and then conceiving by new technology, giving birth to a healthy daughter. I have experienced first-hand the emotional pain of infertility and believe my experience allows me to serve your needs better.

It is my hope that for you, the prospective parents, your desire for a child will be fulfilled soon.”

Read More About Mardie Caldwell

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