Birth Father Roles and Responsibilities in Missouri When Considering Adoption

Choosing adoption can be a tough decision, especially if you don’t feel like it’s really your choice. Sometimes birth fathers can feel like they aren’t in control or like they don’t have a say in the matter, almost as if they are just along for the ride. However, this simply is not the case and cannot be further from the truth. That is why it is time to finally include birth fathers as part of the conversation surrounding adoption. 

Some men tend to think that choosing adoption means they are cowardly or that they failed to provide for their family. The reality is that choosing adoption is a difficult decision for the sake of the baby, and it takes a very strong and brave parent to face this decision and follow through with it. Choosing adoption means putting your own insecurities aside so that your baby can have a chance at the best opportunities in life. What better way to provide for your child than by giving them a head start in life?

We understand what a tough and challenging position being a birth father can be. That is why Adoption Choices of Missouri is here for birth fathers as well as birth mothers. We even go the extra mile to provide a wide range of resources for both parties.

The Top 6 Roles and Responsibilities for a Missouri Birth Father

Simply put, a birth father is the biological father of a child being placed for adoption. It is very important to understand and protect birth father rights. We believe that it is important to recognize that each adopted child has two biological parents, even in cases where the birth father’s identity may remain unknown. Below is a list of just a few of the many roles and responsibilities that birth fathers in Missouri may find themselves coming across.

1. The birth father can play an important role in the birth mother’s support network. As a birth father, the best decision you can make is the decision to support the birth mother in this endeavor. One of the most difficult aspects of being a birth father is knowing when to follow. Birth fathers should please understand that, while the birth mother’s decisions are the final say, she may have some very difficult calls to make throughout her pregnancy. She will need you to be supportive of her and her decisions. The flip coin of that is keeping the birth father informed since he is a part of your support network. It is important to keep the birth father up-to-date on any major developments, especially any medical emergencies.
2. It is the birth father’s responsibility to provide a full medical history. It is vital to the health and safety of the baby to get the birth father’s full medical history. It is extremely important that the birth father fill out and leave a completed medical history form. Without this medical history form, doctors will not be able to determine whether or not your baby is predisposed or at risk for certain hereditary ailments, like diabetes. Even if the birth father decides not to commit to participating in the adoption process, it is imperative that you still leave a copy of his medical history that is as detailed and conclusive as possible.
3. Birth fathers can be involved with decisions regarding the adoption plan. The level of involvement you would like is up for you and the birth father to decide on together, but if you both decide that you would like for him to be involved, then having him help make an adoption plan is a great way to start. This can look like helping decide which adoptive family criteria is important, helping to pick out the adoptive family, or helping to decide which type of adoption best suits your needs. We provide a list of pre-approved, pre-screened, and pre-qualified adoptive families in our adoptive family portfolios, so your baby will be going to a safe and loving home no matter who you choose.
4. If you chose an open or semi-open adoption, birth fathers can write an introductory letter explaining who they are and why you both chose adoption. Based on what type of adoption you chose when making your adoption plan, you may want the birth father to write an introductory letter explaining who he is and why you both chose adoption. These letters can be super helpful to adopted children who might have some questions that their adoptive parents simply won’t have all the answers to. This is your chance to answer those questions and to fill in those gaps.
5. Birth fathers can help make a hospital plan and be a birthing partner in the delivery room. It is crucial that you and the birth father go over a hospital birthing plan together. Will he be bringing a bag of extra clothes and any toiletries you may need? Does he want to be there during labor and delivery? Did you both want some alone time with the baby after you give birth? These are only a few of the many questions to consider when making your hospital birth plan. Your adoption specialist will help you go over the details to make a birth plan that is as informed as possible. Please keep in mind that hospitals may or may not still have COVID-19 restrictions in place regarding delivery room visitation.
6. Birth fathers are responsible for seeking counseling and dealing with any problematic feelings regarding adoption that may arise. The adoption journey can be an emotionally volatile voyage for anyone, birth mothers and birth fathers alike. Just because he is your rock does not mean that he is not silently suffering either. That is why we offer mental health and emotional support counseling for birth mothers and birth fathers. We offer these services throughout the entire adoption process and after, while you are both adjusting to life during post-placement.

Our Missouri Adoption Agency Can Start Helping You with Your Unplanned Pregnancy 

Unplanned pregnancies can seem scary and overwhelming, but that is exactly why Adoption Choices of Missouri is here to help you. We are a full-service, licensed adoption agency that offers a variety of resources. These resources can take the form of financial assistance, medical aid, legal representation, and emotional support counseling. We will ensure that you receive any sort of assistance for which you may qualify. Our adoption caseworkers are on standby, ready and waiting to get to work helping you as soon as possible. The sooner you contact us, the sooner we can get to work helping you.

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.