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How Adoption Works

Your First Step

Your first step is considering your options.  You are viewing this website to explore the topic of adoption so you have already made that move.  We are here to help you as you consider if placing your child is the right decision.  Seeking information or help while you weigh your options does not obligate you to use our services or place your child.  Please contact us to learn more about the adoption process:

  • Call our toll-free number at 1-800-542-5245
  • Speak with a counselor or text questions to 502-468-4290
  • Email a counselor at askabok@yahoo.com

The Adoption Counselor

Our counselors are available 24 hours a day 7 days a week to provide services for pregnant women.  When you call you will be matched with a counselor who will listen to you, discuss options with you, and provide you with information.  If you decide adoption is the right option for you and your child, your counselor will continue to meet with you and be available to you throughout the adoption process and up to one year after.  Your counselor will walk you through the following steps and more, be your support and keep your information private and confidential:

  • Filling out Paperwork
  • Meeting with Attorney
  • Assisting with Medical Appointments
  • Developing Your Adoption Plan
  • Choosing Adoptive Parents
  • Meeting the Adoptive Parents
  • Support at the Hospital
  • After Placement

Legal Explanation

Adoption Bridges of Kentucky will hire an attorney to legally represent you for the adoption process, at no cost to you.  Your attorney will contact you to fully explain how adoption law relates to your particular situation.  The attorney will answer your legal questions, complete all the necessary paperwork and represent you in court.

Financial Assistance

We realize that you may have unexpected financial needs because you are pregnant.  Your counselor will talk with you about your financial needs and personal living expenses related to the pregnancy, the birth, and placement of your child for adoption.  Financial assistance is available.

Choosing the Adoptive Parents

You have the right to choose the adoptive parents you would like to parent your child.  You can look at profile books of adoptive parents with your counselor, who can answer additional questions. If you don’t feel comfortable making a choice of adoptive parents, you can ask the agency to make this decision based on your preferences.

Meeting Your Child’s Adoptive Parents

If you would like to meet the adoptive parents you have selected, your counselor will arrange a meeting.  The counselor will be at the meeting to make introductions and facilitate conversation about the pregnancy, the birth, and the nature of any future relationship between you and the adoptive parents.  If all parties involved are satisfied with the meeting, the adoption process will move forward.

At the Hospital

At the hospital, your priority is to safely deliver a healthy baby and begin to recuperate.  Your counselor will be at the hospital with you for support and to help you complete your adoption plan.  The adoptive parents will be involved as you have decided in your hospital plan.

After the Baby Goes Home with the Adoptive Parents

The amount of contact you and the adoptive parents choose to have is a personal preference.  Adoption Bridges ofKentuckyrequires that all adoptive parents provide our birth parents with pictures and progress letters four times during the first year, and on the child’s second and third birthdays.  If you want additional photos, letters or contact, you and the adoptive parents can discuss further arrangements with your counselor as a part of your adoption plan.

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How to Contact Us

If you are facing an unplanned pregnancy and want to ask questions and talk about adoption, you are welcome to call Adoption Bridges of Kentucky.  Please call our toll-free number at 1-800-542-5245.  You can call a counselor directly or text questions to 502-468-4290.  You are welcome to e-mail us at lindadavis@adoptionbridgesofkentucky.org.

We can also send you some printed material about adoption and our agency.  We can mail it to you in a plain envelope to protect your privacy.

There is no cost to birth mothers or birth fathers for any of our services.

We will not pressure you to make a decision for adoption.  We respect you and your right to decide what you feel is best.  We are happy to answer your questions and provide you with information.  Contacting us does not obligate you to place your child for adoption.

The Adoption Counselor

Our counselors have helped many pregnant women look at their options and personal situations.  They understand your anxieties and uncertainties.  Your counselor will listen to you, discuss options with you, and provide you with information about the adoption process.  She will address your concerns and answer your questions about adoption.

If you think that adoption may be right for you and your child, a counselor can meet with you wherever you live in Kentucky.  You are always welcome to come to our office in Louisville, if it is convenient for you.

At the first meeting, the counselor will ask you for some basic information about your situation.  Any information you give to us is private and confidential.  She will ask you to fill out forms that are used for your legal representation, obtaining medical background information, allowing medical care for the baby, and dispensing essential non-identifying information to the adoptive parents.

When you are ready, the counselor will help you develop an adoption plan.  She will show you profiles of adoptive parents and answer your questions about their lives.  She will arrange a meeting between you and the adoptive parent(s), if you wish to meet them.  Your counselor will provide support during the pregnancy, at the hospital, and after the baby is born.  She will be present when the baby is discharged from the hospital to the adoptive parents.  You will not have to face this situation alone.

Attorney

Adoption Bridges of Kentucky will hire an attorney to legally represent you.  Your attorney will talk with you and let you know how adoption law relates to your particular situation.  The attorney will answer your legal questions, complete all the necessary legal paperwork, and go to court with you.

Financial Assistance

We realize that you may have unexpected financial needs because you are pregnant.  Your counselor will talk with you about your financial needs and personal living expenses related to the pregnancy, the birth, and placement of the child for adoption.  Financial assistance is paid by the adoptive parents through our agency.  Assistance is provided so that you will have safe, adequate living conditions.

Choosing the Adoptive Parents

You have the right to choose the adoptive parents you would like to parent your child.  You can look at profiles of adoptive parents.  Profiles contain pictures of adoptive parents that describe their homes and lives.  If you don’t feel comfortable making a choice of adoptive parents, you can ask the agency to make this decision based on your preferences.

Once you have chosen the adoptive parents, Adoption Bridges of Kentucky will contact them.  The adoptive parents will be given your first name, some basic non-identifying information about you and the birth father, important medical information about the baby, and the legal circumstances.  They will not receive any identifying information about you or the birth father.  When the adoptive parents have accepted the situation presented to them, the counselor will arrange a meeting.

The counselor will be at the meeting to make introductions and facilitate conversation about the pregnancy, the birth, and the nature of any future relationship between you and the adoptive parents.  If all parties involved are satisfied with the meeting, the adoption process will move forward.  If you are not satisfied after the initial meeting, you may review additional agency profiles of adoptive parents.

The counselor will also help you make a hospital plan, which will address when you want the adoptive parents to be there.  Some birth mothers want the adoptive parents in the waiting room; others like one or both of the adoptive parents in the delivery room with them.  The hospital plan will also consider how much time you want to spend with the baby.  Many birth mothers prefer that the adoptive parents take over caring for the baby as soon as possible.  Some birth mothers want a little time to spend with the baby to say “hello” and “goodbye.”  Other birth mothers want to leave the hospital quickly and have little interaction with the baby.  Your counselor can help you decide what feels right for you.

At the Hospital

At the hospital, your priority is to safely deliver a healthy baby and begin to recuperate.  The adoptive parents will come to the hospital as you have decided in your hospital plan.  The adoption counselor will also be there to assist you with any difficult emotional issues, make arrangements with the hospital social services, get signatures on the legal documents, and handle the baby’s discharge to the adoptive parents.  The adoption counselor will take the legal documents to your attorney for further work, filing and scheduling with the court.

 

After the Baby Goes Home with the Adoptive Parents

You have the option of requesting photos and progress reports on your child from the adoptive parents.  The amount of contact you and the adoptive parents choose to have is a personal preference.  Adoption Bridges of Kentucky requires that all adoptive parents provide our birth mothers with pictures and progress letters four times during the first year, and on the second and third birthdays.  If you want additional photos, letters or contact, you and the adoptive parents can discuss further arrangements.