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Adoption in the 21st century is a lot different than it was 50 years ago. Today, children grow up knowing they are adopted. They have very positive adoption stories. Today, birth mothers can keep in touch with an adoptive family over the years. Responsible adults , even those struggling with infertility, can become parents. All members of the adoption triad can be proud of their adoption story. Adoptions With Love is helping to make sure of it.
The non-profit, private adoption agency was recently featured on the Emmy-winning show, Chronicle, which is Boston’s longest-running local news magazine in the country.
Chronicle sat down with several couples who have grown their families through Adoptions With Love. From fertility challenges to same-gender couples, the show took time to celebrate the diverse and devoted families that have come to be through the 33-year-old (and counting!) adoption agency.
For Adoptions With Love, it is about safety and security for the child about to be adopted. The most important thing is ensuring the child is placed in a loving, safe, stable, and supportive home.
“We have to get background clearances on everyone. We get local criminal records, we get FBI finger-printing done, sexual offender registry. We have to get reports from their doctor. We want to make sure that [the parents are] healthy and can see a child to adulthood,” said Adoptions With Love’s Executive Director, Amy Cohen.
“We want to make sure that they’re financially stable. Their case is then assigned to a social worker who is going to do the home study process with them, and these are all in the regulations, and there has to be ten hours of education.”
Adoptive Family Stories
Britney and Seth decided to adopt after facing years of infertility. It was a long and painful struggle, but once they turned to adoption, they were matched with their son, Nate. As the Chronicle’s Shayna Seymour reports, the couple today could not imagine life without him.
“It’s really an amazing experience to be able to help nurture someone, and help grow someone, seeing him now turn into the person who he is,” Seth said of the experience.
Gretchen and Paul also struggled with infertility. The couple went through several rounds of IVF before deciding adoption was the best path for completing their family. After exploring international adoption, they came to some roadblocks.
“By the time that we turned to adoption, we were over 40,” Gretchen recalled. “And so we were not going to be eligible then to do most international adoptions that were available at that time, and that has decreased even more so in the last six years.”
The couple decided to pursue domestic, private adoption. They are now raising son, Tommy, and daughter, Kayla, thanks to adoption.
“We were actually there in the room when they were both born,” Paul said.
As Seymour reports, Adoptions With Love promotes open adoption, which is a much more common practice nowadays than closed adoption. With open adoption, the birth parents are in contact with, or have a relationship with their child’s adoptive family. The form of communication can vary, from emails to phone calls and even in-person visits. For Gretchen and Paul, this means frequent texts and phone calls, and even vacations to the Cape!
When asked what they wished they had known about adoption before beginning the process, Gretchen and Paul told Seymour they wished they had known how easy the process would be.
“As you’re going through the process there’s a lot of worry,” Paul said. “There’s fear of not being chosen, not being matched.”
Gretchen also said she was surprised to learn how fast the adoption process ended up being. Rob and Eric agree with that sentiment.
“This was all just a whirlwind. Rob ran the Boston Marathon on a Monday, and ‘by the way, you can pick up your daughter tomorrow’!” they said.
The couple did not have any trouble adopting, as Massachusetts law supports the rights of same-gender couples to adopt children, as does Adoptions With Love. For Rob and Eric, parenthood has been an incredible experience. Their two children, Catherine and Connor, fill their lives with lots of love.
“I love the hugs when I get home from work, and they scream ‘Daddy!’ and want to come up and give me a big hug. That makes it all worth it all.”
Watch Chronicle’s report on Adoptions With Love here:
https://www.wcvb.com/article/adoption-navigating-different-ways-of-creating-a-loving-home/28765343
If you would like to learn even more about Adoptions With Love or the adoption process, please contact us any time. Our caring staff can help you along this journey. Call us toll-free at 1-800-722-7731, or contact us online at https://adoptionswithlove.org/contact-us.