When you’re looking at adoptive family profiles online, one of the biggest questions you’ll consider is, “Do I want to place my baby in an adoptive family with no children already?” For many women making an adoption plan, the answer to this question is, “Yes.” They want their baby to be the adoptive couple’s first child, so they search for a couple who doesn’t already have children.
Other birth mothers want to place their babies specifically with a couple who is choosing adoption due to infertility. The adoptive couple wants to become parents more than anything but can’t naturally, so they’ve turned to adoption. “I chose adoption because I felt it was the best choice I could make for myself and my baby. When it came time to look for adoptive parents, I knew that I wanted to provide a childless couple with the gift of parenthood,” says one birth mother, Ashlee.
Many women choose to place their baby with a childless adoptive couple to make a couple’s dreams of becoming parents come to life. If you decide to place your baby with first-time adoptive parents, know that they plan to raise your child in a healthy, loving, and stable environment. Lifetime’s adoptive couples without children have been preparing themselves for parenthood for awhile now, taking courses on newborn care, reading books on parenting, and arranging their home to make it a warm and welcoming place for your child to grow up.
Other Items to Consider When Choosing an Adoptive Family
Since many of Lifetime’s hopeful adoptive parents don’t have children, you’ll be able to decide what other items are important to you in an adoptive family. For example, do you want adoptive parents who live in an urban or rural area? Are you hoping for a family in where one spouse will become a stay-at-home parent? How about their faith? Where in the U.S. does your ideal adoptive family live?
Here are some questions to ask yourself as you think about your baby’s adoptive parents:
- Is it important that your child looks like their adoptive parents? Of course, an adopted child doesn’t share DNA with their adoptive family. However, some women feel strongly about placing their baby with an adoptive couple who share their racial background and cultural heritage. They desire that their baby grows up in a home that can better understand their racial identity.
- Where do you want your child to grow up? Lifetime Adoption is a national adoption agency, and so we work with adoptive families all across the country. You can pick an adoptive family in your state or region if it’s important to you that your child remains close to you. Lifetime can also help you find a family that fits a specific vision you have for your child. For example, you might envision your child growing up on a farm in the Midwest. Or, you might want your child to live in a large urban area with lots of cultural and educational opportunities.
- What about the adoptive family’s values? Do you want your child’s adoptive parents to share the same religious views as you? Is it important that the adoptive couple enjoy studying the arts or love being outdoors? With Lifetime’s large selection of adoptive families, you’ll be able to find adoptive parents who value the same things you do and long to pass those values on to your child.
How to Find an Adoptive Family with No Children
As you begin building your adoption plan, you will have complete control from start to finish. Your Adoption Coordinator at Lifetime will be prepared to answer your questions or explain how the process works. But you will always get to make your own decisions.
One of the most significant decisions you will make is choosing the adoptive parents who will raise your child. Once you talk with your Adoption Coordinator to recognize what you’re looking for in an adoptive family, she will begin to show you profiles of couples that fit your description.
When you find one that sparks your interest, your Adoption Coordinator can set up a call for you to speak with them yourself. Then, if all goes well, they could be your child’s adoptive parents!
If you’re having trouble finding the perfect adoptive family online, try not to get discouraged. Lifetime Adoption is currently working with many adoptive families in all stages of the process. So, not all of them are currently listed on our website. Make sure to stay in touch with your Adoption Coordinator if you can’t find an adoptive family that meets your preferences. She can help you conduct a wider search to find exactly the family you’re looking for.
For more information about how the adoption process works or how to choose adoptive parents, please don’t hesitate to call or text Lifetime Adoption at 1-800-923-6784.
As Vice President of Lifetime Adoption, Heather Featherston holds an MBA and is passionate about working with those facing adoption, pregnancy, and parenting issues. Heather has conducted training for birth parent advocates, spoken to professional groups, and has appeared on television and radio to discuss the multiple aspects of adoption. She has provided one-on-one support to women and hopeful adoptive parents working through adoption decisions.
Since 2002, she has been helping pregnant women and others in crisis to learn more about adoption. Heather also trains and speaks nationwide to pregnancy clinics to effectively meet the needs of women who want to explore adoption for their child. Today, she continues to address the concerns women have about adoption and supports the needs of women who choose adoption for their child.
As a published author of the book Called to Adoption, Featherston loves to see God’s hand at work every day as she helps children and families come together through adoption.
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