Putting Your Child Up For Adoption

Once you've looked at your situation and decided the best interest of your child's well-being is outside of your power, you may be wondering what you can do to change things. If the child is already born, do not abandon the child out of shame or fear. There are federal laws that can protect a parent who brings turns a child over to emergency centers, like a hospital or police station, without legal consequence. These children will be turned over to the foster care system.

Future and current birth mothers can also choose to adopt out to family members or prospective adopters. Deciding to put your child up for private adoption has never been easier and more customizable.

The adoption community is full of hopeful couples and adopters looking for infants to adopt. If you're pregnant, then you have the option to contact an agency or facilitator, like an attorney, to help guide you through the process. You can find ways to contact agencies and facilitators by asking for referrals from your health care provider or by flipping through newspapers and classified ads.

Once you've chosen a method of finding an adoptive family to place the child with, you can choose how active you'll be in the process of finding that family. You may consider a closed adoption to be the least stressful or a semi-open one to be the one you're most comfortable with.

Although you may have guidance from an attorney or agency, you'll want to make sure you know what your state laws are concerning how long you have after the child's birth to sign the termination of your parental rights. You may also want to find a counselor to discuss any emotional effects the adoption process is having on you.