Choosing An Adoptive Family
What a responsibility it is to sort
through a myriad of families seeking to adopt. So many of them seem
like such nice people and would make great parents. How do you
choose?
So many criteria to consider:
*Do I want a family with children
already? Does it matter to me if they have any adopted children
currently?
*How long have they been married?
*Where do they live? Is it
important to choose a family near me? Would that make me feel more or
less comfortable?
*Do I want an open,
semi-open or closed adoption? Will possible visits be affected by my
and their locations (remember that location can always, and often does
change)
*Is religion an issue? Do I want a
family with the same religion I am or does that matter? Do I just want
a family with strong religious values? Prefer no religion taught in
the home?
*Are pets an issue? If I or the
father allergic to pets, the child may be also. Is there a pet you
wish you always had that a family might have?
*Is race an issue?
Especially if I am having a child of color, do I care what race the
adoptive family is? Do the parents need to be of color? One of
them? Another child in the family. Realize that there are not
as many couples of color adopting, so they may be more difficult to find.
*Is the education level of the adoptive
parents important? How important is education to me and how big a role
do I want education to be in the life of my child?
*What and what frequency of family
activities are important that my child has? What does the family do
together? What activities do they enjoy? Where do they go?
What kind of vacations do they take? Maybe you love to camp and so do
they. Maybe they do a lot of activities as a family at home on a
weekly or monthly basis.
As you sort through all these things,
make sure your adoption professional is aware of those things that are
important to you. That will help them present you with families that
most closely match what you are looking for in a family.
If you
have any suggestions that you think we should add here, please
contact us and let us know!
