If you are thinking about placing your unborn baby in an adoptive home in New York, you must have tons of questions about how it works, and how to put your baby up for adoption. The staff at Family Connections are here to answer your questions and support you if you choose to make an adoption plan. So what are the benefits of placing your baby for adoption in New York?
Every state in the United States has its own laws and regulations regarding adoption. New York State has some of the most comprehensive laws. Wherever you live in New York State you will be placing your child in an adoptive home with laws that protect you, the biological or birth parents.
There are few adoption agencies in New York as they have to meet strict standards of practice in order to be able to place children in adoptive homes. Family Connections, Inc. has over twenty years of experience in New York State and has well developed support services for biological or birth parents. We can assist you wherever you live in New York State. In northern New York in the Watertown area to Elmira or Jamestown, Binghamton to Poughkeepsie, and Brooklyn to Long Island, we have social workers to support you as you make your adoption choices.
For birth mothers, those decisions are choosing the adoptive parents for your unborn child and deciding how open you want the adoption to be. Birth mothers will have their own attorney who will provide each birth mother with legal advice. All of the attorneys used by Family Connections, Inc. are qualified American Academy of Adoption Attorneys. We use these attorneys because we want birth mothers to receive the best advice when they are exploring their adoption choices. Every adoptive parent has an attorney, so you, the birth parent or biological parent should have an attorney when you are making the choice to place your unborn baby in an adoptive home.
Whether you want a closed adoption or an open adoption, the choice belongs to you. All of the adoptive parents who work with Family Connections are willing to participate in either an open or closed adoption. We have some really great adoptive families. Check them out here.
Family Connections, Inc. is close to both the adoptive parents and the biological birth parents geographically and can help you through your adoption process and work through your open or closed adoption. There is no need to place your child out of state when a local agency with over twenty years of experience is available to help both the biological/birth parents and the adoptive parents to meet each other connect with each other and enter into an agreement that places children in an adoptive home. You the birth parent chooses the family and level of openness.
So what is open adoption?
In New York State, from New York City to Buffalo to Albany to Plattsburgh, open adoption is the most common choice for birth parents. New York State law allows for and supports birth parents who choose an open adoption plan for their child. The reason open adoption is so often chosen by birth parents is because it allows the birth mother and/or birth father to have an ongoing relationship with the child and the adoptive family. This ongoing relationship is good for everyone involved for many reasons, which we have explored here. But in New York, what does it legally mean for an adoption to be open?
Open adoption in NY has been validated by the New York State Courts. Some birth parents fear that the adoptive parents will cut them out of their child’s life completely after the adoption is finalized. While it is rare that the adoptive family would try to keep a birth mother in the dark, there is a safeguard in place to protect birth parents rights to contact with their child. This safeguard is a Post Adoption Contract Agreement (PACA), which is an agreement birth parents and adoptive parents come to in the course of making an adoption plan. The agreement outlines how often the adoptive family will send pictures, letters and updates, as well as if and when visits will take place. A birth parent who has a post adoption contract agreement can feel comfortable knowing that the adoptive parents cannot legally cut them off from the updates and contact which was agreed upon in the PACA. The courts in New York State have allowed a PACA to become a part of the adoption process. All post adoption contact specified in this Agreement (like sharing pictures, sending letters and having yearly visits) is enforceable by the courts in New York. This PACA is only available to birth parents when an agency has matched the birth family and the adoptive family and is part of the adoption.
Birth parents who choose open adoption will see their child grow and know how they are doing. They may, if they choose, have scheduled visits with their child. The child will grow up knowing who ALL of his or her parents are, and as they grow older will have access to important social and genetic information that only a biological parent can provide. Open adoption allows birth parents and their children to know each other and have a special relationship. Having a relationship that includes visitation works best when both families live in New York, but New York State residency is not a requirement for a PACA to be valid.
So, if you live in New York City in any of the boroughs like Brooklyn or in Long Island, Elmira, Binghamton or in Upstate New York or in cities such as Syracuse, Cortland or Watertown or any small towns near all of these cities you can choose to work with Family Connections, Inc. if you are making an adoption plan. Check out our website or call us. We have a lot to offer you as you choose to find an adoptive home for your unborn child that will be the family and the kind of adoption you choose.
Adoption is a loving option for expectant mothers facing an unplanned pregnancy. A birth mother may not have chosen to conceive a child, but she can choose to give birth to the child and then choose to parent the child or freely give the parenting responsibilities to another family through adoption. Only a birth mother (and birth father if involved) can decide the future of the child.
Family Connections, Inc. is a New York State adoption agency that has been supporting birth mothers for over twenty years. We respect your decision-making and honor your choices. We would be very happy to speak with you; you can reach Anita or Renee at 1-800-535-5556 or anita@adoptfamilyconnectons.org. All phone calls and emails are confidential, and all services are free.
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