This guest post was written by Hailey, a birth mother who chose adoption for her daughter six years ago.

“After three weeks of being pregnant with a baby I knew I couldn’t parent, I sat down and devoted my time to looking at adoptive family websites. I was curious about adopting my baby out. I looked at SO many adoptive parent profiles. Never knew there were so many couples wanting to give their love!

I wanted to feel a connection to the couple I chose. Since I grew up with an older brother and sister, I wanted my baby to have the same. And after I found out that my baby would be a girl, I kept seeing her as someone’s little sister.

As they say, when you know, you know. When I picked Jason and Jenni, I knew they’d be perfect parents for my daughter. They already had a three-year-old son, and Jenni is a stay-at-home mom. I felt like she belonged in their family! Honestly, for us, it was ‘meant to be.’

I’m able to see my daughter Ava grow up, through updates that Jenni emails me and posts to a private Instagram. We also meet up once a year, on Ava’s birthday. But, I’ll be honest, that first year after I placed Ava was hard! What helped was seeing a counselor, putting my thoughts into a journal, and talking with other birth moms. The struggle was real! Even though the grief was hard, I knew with my heart and soul she belonged with Jason and Jenni.

Six years after placing Ava, I realize that being open is the key my great relationship with her parents. Open adoption has blessed my life in that it helped me deal with my grief. Most importantly, it’s blessed Ava and surrounded her with love!

What Jenni’s philosophy has been is that the more people to love and support a child, the better. Open adoption has been incredible for us!”

November is National Adoption Awareness Month.

If you have an adoption story to share, we’d love to hear it! Connect with us by messaging to find out more about how to share your story.

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.