A positive open adoption experience...
Apr 11 '01 (Updated Aug 09 '05)
The Bottom Line I recommend open adoption, and Lutheran Social Services has been wonderful to me throughout this difficult process. I look forward to meeting my daughter someday, perhaps.
Fourteen years ago, I place a little girl for adoption. Before she was born, I searched for an adoption agency, and after much research, I chose Lutheran Social Services.
My case worker gave me a questionnaire to fill out that would inform the agency about the kind of parents I would like for my child. She then brought me letters from prospective parents with the characteristics I wanted. I read every letter carefully, finally selecting a couple that seemed best.
I was strangely peaceful through this difficult time, as I knew it was the right thing to do. That is not to say that it wasn't difficult. I cried myself to sleep many nights.
A few months after her birth, LSS arranged a meeting between myself, my parents, and my baby's adoptive parents. Having met them, I am even more at peace, knowing that they are wonderful people.
For about a year, I received photos and letters from the adoptive parents, and anxiously looked forward to the next communication. However, I spoke to a good friend who had adopted several children, and she communicated to me that it had been particularly difficult to bond with one of them because the birth mother was often sending cards,letters, and gifts. Soon after that conversation, I decided that it would be in my child's best interests to abstain from communication, and allow her adoptive parents to bond with her without my interference.
I hope that someday she will contact me, and I think about her and pray for her always. I have left my address with LSS, who will keep it on file should my child decide to search for me. LSS is also able to transfer messages to her adoptive parents, as they did when I developed a genetic medical condition of which I wanted to alert them.
The help that the agency provided made a very painful decision and situation much less difficult. Lutheran Social Services has offices nationwide. If you are considering adoption, I encourage you to contact the branch nearest you.
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Epinions.com ID:
kks5369
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Member: Kari Spencer
Location: Phoenix, AZ USA
Reviews written: 35
Trusted by: 3 members
About Me:
Teacher, mother, writer.
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