We are hoping to adopt a baby girl/toddler of any race. Help!?

Question

It's such an emotional roller coaster as you really feel for what the birthparents must go through relinquishing a child. What is the best approach to finding a child through private adoption (we are already set up for state adoption, too)? Also, if any of you have adopted via open adoption, do you feel it was better for your family than closed adoption? Feel free to email or post responses. Thanks!! :)

Answer 1

Contact a reputable attorney that is experienced with adoption.  We used www.adoptionattorneys.org

To say that this is a wonderful experience is the mother of all understatements.

It is an emotional roller coaster, but you don't remember any of the bad or hard times once you hold your child in your arms.

Answer 2

I am a birth mom to a little boy that I placed for adoption on October 15, 2002. It is an open adoption and it is wonderful!! They all came to my High School graduation and we hang out every once in a while. I love it. They have another little boy that is a little older than my son, he is also adopted and I love him so much!! It is a wonderful bond. I am all for open adoption. I am so happy that I was able to make their family complete!!

Answer 3

Our situation is a bit different in that we did an international adoption, but we did chose an open adoption. Even though our son is only 2.5 I am already soo thankful we made this choice. His father cared for him for two years (his mother passed away shortly after he was born) and my son loves to see pictures of them together. He also loves looking at pictures of us with his father. He calls his first father the word meaning daddy in their language and my husband is daddy. Prior to adoption I might have felt wierd about that, but I have so much love and respect for this man who gave us our child, that it is completely natural. Because of the distance, we will only see his father every few years, but we write much more. It gives me comfort to know I'll be able to answer a lot of the questions my son will have. After our experience, I cannot imagine choosing a closed adoption.

I also just have to say I LOVE toddler adoption. Our experience has been fantastic and our son attached to us very quickly. Its been so nice adding a child (he's our 3rd) who already sleeps through the night, is potty trained, eats what we eat, wants to jump in and play with the other kids, has a personality and can tell us what he is thinking (took him less than 2 months to become fairly fluent in English despite it being his 3rd language). I actually loved the baby stage with my first 2 kids and thought I would miss it alot. But its just been very fun having him come to us at this age and I was surprised that I didn't miss the baby stage. Instead I'm thankful for the years he got to spend in his birth country. If we were to adopt again, I would adopt a toddler (or even older) in a heartbeat!!