Are You Pregnant and Choosing Adoption? Here is Help for Birth Mothers in Missouri Making an Adoption Plan

If you’re here reading this, then hopefully you’ve already reviewed and carefully considered your three main pregnancy options (parenting, abortion, and adoption) and you’ve chosen adoption. Congratulations on making this loving and selfless decision! This means you are officially ready to level up from being a pregnant woman to a birth mother.

But where do you go from here? What exactly does the adoption process entail? It is time for you to pick an adoption agency and begin working with your adoption specialist to make your adoption plan together. That is exactly why Adoption Choices of Missouri is here to help you every step of the way through the adoption process.

The 7 Main Ways We Provide Assistance and Help for Birth Mothers in Missouri Making an Adoption Plan:

1. Initial Assessment. After you contact us, we will schedule a meeting with you as soon as possible to begin making your adoption plan. If you do not have transportation, your adoption caseworker will come to you. That is when we will begin our initial assessment so that we can get started on filing whatever paperwork is necessary to provide you with the types of financial assistance that may be available to you. Financial assistance includes, but is not limited to: safe housing, utilities, groceries, transport, medical assistance, and legal representation.
2. Find a Doctor. After your paperwork is all done, we will then help you find a doctor within your provided coverage. It is important that you find a doctor you feel safe and comfortable with, since the two of you will have a long journey ahead together. After all, your doctor and his or her staff will be the ones performing all of your tests, ultrasounds, and delivering your baby. You should have a team of trusted professionals by your side.
3. Review Adoptive Family Profiles. You will receive a list of prospective adoptive families to choose from who meet your criteria. You can choose what type of adoption you’d like, whether you want an open, closed, or semi-open adoption. This determines your level of involvement in your baby’s life post-placement as he or she grows up. Just because you choose adoption does not mean you have to miss out on knowing the person your baby grows up to be. Open adoption is currently the most popular type of adoption in the US, because it lets you stay in touch and maintain contact with the adoptive family and your baby. We strongly encourage open adoption because we believe it is the option that is the most beneficial and positive for everyone.
4. Meet the Adoptive Family. If you would like, you can meet the adoptive family you have chosen. This is to help ensure that they meet all of your criteria and that you are confident in your decision. Now, congratulations on picking out your baby’s adoptive family! We are a full-service, licensed agency, so all of our adoptive families are pre-approved and qualified to adopt. This means that you will pick a great home for your baby no matter what. Whether you chose a single individual, a couple, a transracial family, or an LGBTQ+ family, your baby will be entering into a nurturing and loving home. We guarantee that your baby will be placed into a capable and suitable environment to provide him or her with the best opportunities in life.
5. Follow-Up Appointments. Now that you got to meet the adoptive family you picked out, don’t forget to stay in touch with your adoption specialist throughout the rest of your pregnancy and adoption journey. It is also very important that you do not miss any of your doctor’s appointments leading up to your due date. If getting around is an issue, we will provide any necessary transportation to help you make sure that you do not miss any of these important dates.
6. Your Due Date. Finally! The big day is here! By the time it is your due date, you and your adoption caseworker will have already worked out a birth plan together with your doctor and the adoptive family you’ve chosen. Usually this covers decisions like whether or not you want the adoptive family present for the birth or whether you want to hold the baby after. Please be aware that there may be certain hospital restrictions and guidelines in place regarding visitors and such due to COVID-19. Your adoption caseworker will be able to go over all of those guidelines and procedures with you in more detail when you make your birth plan together.
7. Post-Placement. After you are all done with your labor and delivery, it is time for you to get used to your new life after adoption. Your baby will be placed with his or her adoptive family, but that does not mean you have to deal with adjusting to your new post-placement life alone. We offer support counseling to help you while you deal with any grief or loneliness you may experience post-placement. We understand that this is a long and emotional journey, and it does not simply end once you have given birth. That is why we offer emotional and support counseling to help you navigate any grief you may experience during this time of emotional turmoil.

Don’t Wait to Ask for Help for Birth Mothers in Missouri Making an Adoption Plan

The longer you wait, the longer before we can get to work helping you. Birth mothers are our highest priority, and you should be treated as such. We are here and happy to help with any financial and medical assistance you may need. But not having to stress about the bills is only one aspect of the services we provide. That is exactly why Adoption Choices of Missouri is here for you: to not only help guide you through the entire adoption process and coordinate your adoption plan, but to also go the extra mile to provide emotional and support counseling afterwards.

Adoption Choices of Missouri serves birth parents statewide and beyond, please call us or text us to learn more! Call us toll free at 877-903-4488 or, in Missouri call or text us at 1-816-527-9800

Meet the Author: Kelly Felix is a graduate from the University of New Orleans. She holds a BA in English as well as a BA in Sociology. Her English concentration is in journalism, and her specialties in sociology are gender studies and environmental sociology.

When she isn’t voraciously guzzling coffee or devouring books, Kelly can be found either bent over a canvas working on her art or at her computer playing video games. She has hands-on classroom teaching experience from her time working as a substitute teacher for Kelly Services. Kelly also completed an in-house editorial internship at Pelican Publishing Company, and she finished the goal internship program at Green Light New Orleans. Kelly generally exists in a state of suspended disbelief, but when she’s not there she resides in New Orleans.