Adoption 101

We attended our first adoption class on Tuesday night. We'll admit that we expected most of it to be repeat information. We have already attended two orientations, hosted by another agency, and a day long conference. How much more information could there possibly be? A lot. We walked through the process, step by step. While we had a basic understanding, we still had a lot of questions.

Do we get to name the baby? How does that work?
How much time will we spend with the birth mother before and after the adoption?
What does an open adoption really look like?
Are there any issues that tend to pop up in the process?

We got all of our questions answered. For most of them, the answer was "it all depends." Each adoption experience is unique, and so there aren't firm answers. The only set answer was about naming the baby. If you're curious...the birth mother will name the baby when he/she is born, and a birth certificate will be generated based on that. Once we go to court to finalize the placement, we are able to change the name and a new birth certificate will be printed with our information on it. Ideally, we can agree up front on a name, so the birth certificate will not change much. We'll see. We already have ideas for names (no, we're not going to share them), so we have a feeling we'll end up needing to changing the certificate.

We were really looking forward to meeting the other couples in the class. Our adoption counselor told us that many of the couples become close friends, and stay in touch long after their adoptions are finalized. Being the first night, I think everyone felt a little nervous and awkward. We're am excited to get to know them better over the next seven weeks. We are definitely the youngest couple in the class. There was one couple that looked close in age, but the rest are at least 5 - 10 years older.

If you have any questions about the process, please let us know. We're very open about it.

As you pray for us, please begin to pray for the birth mother who will eventually select us to parent her child.