What Is The Process If I Give My Baby Up For Adoption?
We, at Adoption Attorneys Kirsh & Kirsh, P.C. (“Kirsh & Kirsh”) get asked this question a lot. While we cannot speak for national adoption agencies or local adoption agencies, we try to make the process as easy, uncomplicated, and stress-free as possible, with the CLEAR UNDERSTANDING that a birth parent’s decision to give up their baby for adoption, or more correctly, make an adoption plan for the child is the most difficult, heart-wrenching – yet UNSELFISH, COURAGEOUS, AND HONORABLE decision a person will ever face. At Kirsh & Kirsh, we CANNOT make the decision EASY, but we try to make it EASIER by eliminating as many unnecessary, intrusive steps as possible and making ourselves available 24/7/365.
In short, we represent carefully screened, thoroughly investigated, prospective adoptive parents who cannot wait to welcome a baby into their hearts and homes. When an expectant birth mother contacts us, we will gather information from her to present her profiles of waiting families we think she might want to consider as adoptive parents for her baby. We give her the opportunity to read about the families, look at pictures showing them and the life they hope to offer her child, talk/text with the family, and even meet them in person if she wishes.
Additionally, we will arrange for her to speak with a support person to help her anticipate the emotions she can expect and provide her with some tools to help her come to peace with her decision. If she does not have Medicaid or insurance, we will help her try to obtain coverage. If not, we will see that her pregnancy-related, medical bills, as well as living expenses, get paid. We will contact the hospital at which she plans to deliver to let the maternity department know that she is CONSIDERING adoption so that when she arrives at the hospital in labor, to save her from having to explain her situation to several different people. “Considering” because a birth mother cannot be held to a final decision about adoption until after she gives birth, AND she formally signs a consent to adoption. To say it differently – NOTHING a birth mother does or says before she gives birth and signs a consent to adoption obligates her to proceed with an adoption.
If she chooses to proceed with the adoption after she gives birth, we will arrange for her to sign a consent to adoption, at a time convenient for her, usually the day following the birth – but NO SOONER than when she is ready. We encourage her to have with her whomever she would like as support. We will then have her confirm her consent for the judge by telephone. The judge just wants to hear her say that she signed the consent freely, voluntarily, and with a clear understanding of what she signed. The court will then issue an order authorizing the hospital to release the baby directly to the adoptive parents’ arms – NOT TO A FOSTER HOME and with NO involvement of the Department of Children Services.
All families whom we, at Kirsh & Kirsh, represent will provide the birth mother letters and photographs for 18 years letting her know how her child is getting along.
We, at Kirsh & Kirsh — or the “Kirsh Boys,” as the adoption attorneys at Kirsh & Kirsh are sometimes called – Steve, and his brothers, Joel and Rob, and his son, Grant, pride ourselves on answering questions about adoption and explaining the process without pressure or judgment.
Our contact information is below. We will answer your questions and provide you with the information you seek, without cost or obligation on your part. In other words, talking to us is FREE and does NOT mean you ever have to talk or text with us, again. The Kirsh Boys have 90 YEARS OF COMBINED EXPERIENCE practicing adoption law. We can help you in finding an AMAZING, WONDERFUL, adoptive home for your precious baby, whether you live in Anderson or Indianapolis, Martinsville or Columbus, Evansville or Princeton, South Bend or LaGrange, North Manchester or Ft. Wayne, or any Indiana county or city in between, or ANYWHERE in Tennessee, Mississippi, Kentucky, or Michigan.
There is always a family waiting to love your child. We have lots of family options from which you can choose, all of whom are wonderful, carefully screened, loving families, FROM INDIANA AND ALL OVER THE COUNTRY (married, single, Lesbian, and Gay) who cannot wait to welcome a baby into their hearts and homes and are happy to assist with living expenses to the fullest extent allowed by law. You make all the choices regarding which family adopts your baby & extent of contact you want after the child’s birth.
You can call, text, and or email us anytime -call: 317-575-5555, text: 317-721-2030, email: AdoptionSupport@kirsh.com, or Facebook message: https://www.facebook.com/KirshandKirsh/. We answer our office phone 24 hours a day, every single day. We try to respond to emails and text messages within minutes of receipt.
POSITIVE ADOPTION LANGUAGE DISCLAIMER: Please understand that these blog posts are written in a way to use language that people use when searching for help with their adoption plans. Unfortunately, while all of us understand what positive adoption language means, most expectant moms that come to us at first do not understand what that means. The most common search term on the Internet for expectant moms is “how do I give up my baby for adoption”. If we do not include those words in our blog posts, and instead put “how do I create an adoption plan for my baby” then our website will not show up in most expectant moms’ search results on Google.