Child Adoption Resources

Getting Started in Adoption - What is Important

2008-07-12T21:34:00.000-07:00

Adoption Resources for Potential Adoptive Parents

My name is Kelli and I am the very happy adoptive Mom to Ariel Faith who we were blessed with via an open domestic adoption in 2004. We went through 6 failed IVF cycles and two late trimester losses prior to adoption. We then decided that it was much more important to become parents than to continue to pursue any additional fertility treatments.

However, when we started the process to adopt, we knew almost nothing. I would say the best tool you will have going forward is INFORMATION. Take the time to learn as much as you can before you begin and the journey can be made a lot smoother as you move forward.

I am listing only adoption professionals, organizations and other resources that I am personally familiar with and that we used in our adoption of Ariel.

Adoption Professionals We Worked With

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RESOLVE – this is an excellent support group to join that can help with any residual infertility grief/loss and also helping to sort out the “what next” in your journey to parenthood.
Their web site is http://www.resolve.org

INFANT ADOPTION COACH - Cindy Simonson created the company Infant Adoption Coach to be able to give pre-adoptive and waiting to adopt couples information she was not able to find when she was adopting her daughter 14 years ago. As an adoptive mom herself and working as an adoption professional for over a decade, she has a wealth of information to share. She worked with us on important several pieces of our adoption plan.

As a prior client, Cindy has authorized me to offer anyone I refer to her a 10 percent discount on a coaching session with her. I cannot stress highly enough the value of having a seasoned adoption professional helping to guide you from the very start with the many decisions and choices you will be making. The choice of open or private adoption, what agency or attorney to work with, how to create your very best Dear Birthmother letter - the list goes on and on.

To contact Cindy - please go to her website - http://infantadoptioncoach.com/coaching.htm and remember to tell her Kelli sent you.

We also used Cindy’s services to answer our own online ad but decided after the ad ran out to have Cindy do our outreach for us as her resources were far more outreaching than the Internet advertising we had done.

Other Adoption Information and Resources

2008-07-08T21:36:00.000-07:00

Books I personally read and can recommend:
The Adoption Resource Book by Lois Gilman – great resource to explain adoption
Twenty Things Adopted Kids Wished their Adoptive Parents Knew by Sherrie Eldridge
Great book to help understand adoption from the adopted child’s perspective
Tell Me Again about the night I was born by Jamie Lee Curtis
Great book to be able to read to your child early on and start the discussion about adoption

Adoptive Family Magazine – highly valuable resource before and after you adopt

Adoption Clearinghouse – web site with a wealth of adoption related information - http://www.adoption.org/adopt/national-adoption-clearinghouse.php

I wish you all the best in your journey to parenthood - if you have any questions I did not cover in this post - please feel free to email me at adoptivemom@sbcglobal.net