Help Choosing Your Adoption Agency: The Adoption Process from the Adoption Specialist’s Perspective

Are you a birth mother or pregnant woman who is facing an unexpected pregnancy and looking for the right adoption agency? Or maybe you have some idea of what kind of adoption agency you are looking for, like an adoption agency that handles private domestic infant adoptions. Still, you are unsure of the exact benefits of choosing a licensed Missouri adoption agency? Or have you already decided on an adoption agency that is right for you, but you’d like to know a bit more about the adoption process?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, then you have come to the right place! Adoption Choices of Missouri is here to help you and to answer any of your adoption questions. We understand how scary or overwhelming your adoption journey can sometimes feel. That is why we are here to help assuage your fears and uncertainties by letting you know some specifics about the adoption process from our perspective.

The Steps of the Adoption Process from Your Adoption Caseworker’s Point of View

Let’s take a look at adoption in Missouri from your adoption caseworker’s perspective! This way, you will get the chance to understand the entire adoption process from start to finish. You will even get a better understanding of all the extra work behind the scenes to ensure that your adoption runs as smoothly as possible for you.

1. Before you even call your adoption caseworker, they are already busy performing adoptive family home studies for you. That’s right, your adoption specialist is working hard for you before you even make the call! They are busy performing home studies of prospective adoptive families for our family portfolios. This is to ensure that your baby is placed in a suitable environment and make sure that your baby is placed in a safe and nurturing home that can give them both the love and the life they deserve.
2. The adoption specialist gets a call from a woman who says that she is unexpectedly pregnant and considering adoption. Everyone moves at different speeds. Some birth mothers call saying that they are ready and know they are choosing adoption, and some pregnant women call saying that they need help with their unexpected pregnancy. In either case, your adoption specialist is more than happy to help go over all of the unplanned pregnancy options available to you. Your adoption specialist wants to make sure that you are making the decision that is right for you.
3. After you choose adoption, your adoption caseworker will see what financial assistance is available to you. Your adoption caseworker will begin by asking you a few personal questions. It’s okay, and we are here to ensure that you get the help you need. Your adoption specialist will likely come visit you to perform a home study to verify if you qualify for some financial assistance for birth mothers. This will help determine if you are eligible to receive any financial aid for safe housing, rent, and utility assistance, medical care, and even help with transportation during your pregnancy. Your adoption caseworker’s top priority at all times is guaranteeing your safety and the safety of your baby during your pregnancy.
4. Now you and your adoption specialist can begin making your adoption plan. Once you and your adoption caseworker are satisfied with the level of care and financial support you’ll receive, you can begin making your adoption plan together! There are many benefits to making an adoption plan with our Missouri adoption agency. First, your adoption specialist will over the three types of adoption available to birth mothers and help you decide which one is right for you. After you decide between an open, closed, or semi-open adoption, you will tell your adoption specialist what adoptive family criteria are important to you. This will help your adoption caseworker narrow down which adoptive families to show you out of our adoptive family portfolios! Besides, you already know that your adoption specialist has performed home study tests to ensure that all of the adoptive families in our portfolios are pre-screened and pre-qualified to adopt. You and your adoption specialist will also go over your hospital birth plan to make arrangements for your delivery.
5. Your adoption caseworker gets to tell the adoptive family that they will be parents. This is the greatest news an adoptive family can hear, and we get to tell them! Your adoption specialist with speak with the adoptive family to deliver them the good news that they will be parents. If you would like to meet them beforehand, this is when your adoption caseworker will set up a meeting between you and the adoptive family. Please be mindful that there may be some visitation restrictions due to COVID-19.
6. Your due date is here! It is time for your adoption caseworker to enact your hospital birth plan! This is your big day! Your adoption specialist will set into motion the hospital birth plan that the two of you decided on while making your adoption plan. This means making any necessary travel arrangements to get to the hospital, getting your adoption consent paperwork ready to file in court, and notifying the adoptive family that the big day is here. By now, you and your adoption specialist already went over any important things you may need and whether or not you want the adoptive family present during your delivery. Please keep in mind that there may be some hospital visitation guidelines in place due to COVID-19 as well.
7. Your adoption specialist will help you navigate your post-placement journey. The big day is over, and your baby is safe at home with their adoptive family—now what? Just because your adoption process is over does not mean that your adoption caseworker is done caring about you! Your adoption specialist will make sure that you are doing OK and help guide you towards any extra help you may need. They can point you toward counseling and emotional support services for birth mothers to help you adjust to post-placement life. It is perfectly natural to experience some grief over the loss of parenthood, and we are here to help you through this difficult time.

Call Our Missouri Adoption Agency Today: Your Adoption Specialist Is Ready and Waiting to Hear from You 

Don’t hesitate to call Adoption Choices of Missouri today! Your adoption specialist is ready and waiting to answer all of your adoption questions. Even though your adoption caseworker is already hard at work performing home study tests on your behalf, you still have to call them and let them know that you need help with your unexpected pregnancy. The sooner you call 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.