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Why Choose Adoption Angel?
CHOICES: We believe there is more than one right answer to the question of what kind of adoption is right. We believe there are attitudes and actions that make adoption work well for everyone involved, as well as attitudes and actions that hurt others involved. Beyond that, there are many possible choices, and no one way of doing things is right for everyone. We believe our job is to help birth parents and adoptive parents understand what helps and what hurts, and then to help them find each other.
YOU
DECIDE: You will decide what is important to you about your adoption:
the type of family you want for your child, how much contact you would like
to have before and after placement, whether you would like the adoptive
parents to be present when the baby is born, what type of contact you would
like to have as your child grows up, what pictures and letters and mementos
you would like your child to have.
OPEN, CLOSED OR IN BETWEEN: We help birth parents arrange adoptions in the full range of openness: from fully open to fully closed and everywhere in between. We help birth parents understand the possibilities and what they will mean to them and their children, then help them make a plan and carry it out. It is your choice, not ours.
EXCELLENT FAMILIES: We will help you find an excellent family for your child, a family that meets your requirements, a safe and healthy family where your child can grow up to fulfill his or her potential, a family that will honor you in their words, actions and attitudes.
POSSIBILITIES: We work with a wide variety of families, some who live nearby in the Portland metro area, some in other parts of the Pacific Northwest and some who live as far away as Canada or England. They are ordinary people from every walk of life, from truck drivers to teachers, from psychologists to novelists, from engineers to politicians.
SAFETY: All hopeful adoptive families must have a completed home study investigation, including criminal and child protective services record checks, references from people who know them well, financial records to show they can provide for a child, and many other documents to show their home is a safe and healthy place for a child to grow up. The home study includes an extended visit in their home by a social worker who will ask them many questions, including why they want to have children, what challenges they have faced as a couple, how they make decisions, how they resolve conflicts, how they plan to discipline their child, their child care plans and much more.
THE
RIGHT FAMILY: We will make sure your questions about families you are
considering are fully answered. We will make sure you have the opportunity
to meet and get to know the family you choose at a level that satisfies your
needs. If, after meeting them, you and the family do not both feel good
about the situation, we will keep working with you until you meet the family
that is right.
MEDIATION: We will assist you and the family you choose by mediating a contact agreement describing the type and frequency of contact you will have after placement. Contact can include letters and pictures, phone calls, e-mail and visits. We are available for further mediation as needed in the years to come.
SECURITY: The contact agreement you make together is legally enforceable. It is an agreement created to last a lifetime.
EXTENDED FAMILY: Your extended family can be included in your agreement if you would like them to be. You and the adoptive parents you choose will decide together how extended family will be involved.
NO COST SERVICES: All our services are always free of charge to you, especially no-pressure counseling regarding your decision and counseling after the birth and placement of your child. This counseling is available at any time in your life—whether you decide you want it immediately after placement, next year, or in five or ten years.
HELP WITH EXPENSES: We will assist you with pregnancy-related living and medical expenses as allowable by law.
MEET OTHER BIRTH PARENTS: We are glad to put you in touch with birth parents who have worked with us to create an adoption plan for their children. Hearing about their experiences and having the opportunity to ask questions of them may help you know whether adoption is right for you, and what it may be like to experience adoption.
PREPARATION FOR YOUR CHILD’S FUTURE: All prospective adoptive parents we work with receive adoption education, to be sure they are prepared for the specific needs of adopted children and to be sure they understand how adoption looks from a birth parent’s point of view. Families receive the beginnings of their adoption library during our training and are encouraged to continue educating themselves throughout the years.
MEETING YOUR CHILD’S NEEDS: Regardless of how open or closed the adoption, you and the adoptive parents you choose will be educated about how the choices you make are likely to affect an adopted child. For example, research points to the need for adopted children to talk comfortably with their parents about adoption, so books, articles and education are offered to help them understand how to do so.
ALREADY FOUND AN ADOPTIVE FAMILY? If you have found a family with whom you would like to place your child, we would be glad to act as your mediators, to help you negotiate a contact agreement that will work for a lifetime. We would be pleased to act as educators for both you and them, to help both of you understand what adoption means, how it works, and what makes it work well. All the services we would normally provide to birth parents and adoptive parents would be available to you.
You can contact us by calling our toll-free number at 1-888-331-4040, or by e-mailing: deborah. Ask any questions you like with no obligation. We’re glad to help.