Deciding on a family is one of the hardest parts of the adoption
process. I know for some birthmoms before adoptions became more open there wasn't
even a choice in who your child went to. I am thankful because we
now have a choice in who our children are raised by.
I absolutely love the family I chose. They are amazing people who had been on a long road of loss and infertility. They lost
two little girls both at 21 weeks. They had been trying for years and when I
met them I knew they were the ones. We had met another family but I just had a
feeling about them. We were so similar on so many aspects. They reminded me of
the kind of people I want to grow up to be.
We had two meetings with both families before coming to a
decision. On our second meeting we spent hours talking. We all just got a
long so well so fast, A and J were just the right people for us. A mentioned
that she had a dream the other night and they decided that if they were to
adopt she really liked the name E because it was the same name of a little girl
in a dream she had. It was a jaw dropping moment for me because the only name I
had liked when I was pregnant was the same name! We had come up with the same
name without even knowing it. I knew then that it was just meant to be.
My best advice for interviewing families and meeting them is
to just breathe. It can be extremely nerve-wracking but just imagine how
nervous they are! I also suggest coming to the meeting with a list of questions
you want to ask. It might seem kind of awkward to have a physical list but it really helped me ask all
of the questions I wanted to ask.. Another suggestion that made it a
lot easier for me was to bring my adoption agent with me for the first
meetings. It was nice to have someone there to help keep the conversation
flowing if there was ever an awkward moment. It is also an opportunity to help
ask questions that I might have felt uncomfortable about asking. It also might help to meet over a meal or coffee if possible, its a conversation starter and I think that everyone out there loves to eat! Take your time meeting the families, it is a very important decision that only you can make!
What concerns did you have when deciding on a family? What helped you make a decision? What advice would you give to someone trying to decide on a family?
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