Making an Adoption Birth Plan [How to Create Yours]

Being able to create your hospital adoption plan is important because your voice deserves to always be heard in your adoption process.

Each step of the adoption journey is important. This process is life-changing. Of everything you’ll experience, there may be no more important step than the adoption birth plan. Your adoption hospital plan will outline all of your preferences regarding your hospital stay when your due date arrives, such as:

• The hospital you want to deliver your baby at
• Who you want in the delivery room with you
• Who you want to hold your baby first
• The medical procedure you’d like to be performed
• And more

Giving birth under any circumstances is often a transcendent experience. Painful, difficult, overwhelming — yet also beautiful, life-giving and joyous. Add in the unique elements of adoption, and it becomes truly unlike anything else.

You may be anxious about this part of the process. If so, we’re here to help you understand how the adoption birth plan works, how you are always in charge as the prospective birth mother, and who can help you make this important step as smooth as possible.

If you are ready to start creating your own hospital birth plan for adoption, contact us today. You’ll get a helpful adoption professional to guide you through the process and answer your questions.

HOW THE HOSPITAL ADOPTION PLAN WORKS

With the help of an adoption professional, you will be able to create an adoption hospital plan. This plan makes all of the decisions about how labor and delivery will go. Since the adoption birth plan is made before you get to the hospital, all of the hard choices are already settled when the time comes.

Every newborn adoption birth plan is unique, because every prospective birth mother is in a unique situation. The circumstances of your life will determine how your plan goes. Things like your medical history, location, openness with the adoptive parents and more will come into play shaping your plan.One thing that is always the same — when you’re a prospective birth mother, you are in charge of the adoption birth plan. You are doing an incredibly brave, selfless and heroic thing by placing your baby’s needs ahead of your own, and you get to call the shots.

HOW YOU ARE IN CHARGE OF YOUR ADOPTION BIRTH PLAN

When it comes to your adoption birth plan, what you want will always be the priority. This is an emotional day for you, and you deserve to feel as comfortable as possible. Your adoption professional will help you fill out your hospital plan so that you can detail all of the arrangements you would like to be in place, and your adoption professional will make it happen. It’s also important to know that you can make changes to your hospital plan at any time, even after you’ve arrived at the hospital.

“I remembered filling out my hospital plan when everything was about me, me, me — but then all that happened, and I felt like it wasn’t about me anymore. I couldn’t wait to see them hold her for the first time,” said Angelica about her experience with creating her birth plan for adoption.

As the prospective birth mother, you have all the power in this process. You will be supported and respected. When you choose adoption, you are in charge of your how your process goes, including your adoption birth plan.

Here’s how.

Where You Give Birth

Which hospital feels best for labor and delivery? This is up to you, and you don’t have to worry about covering the medical bills. Adoption financial assistance will cover all medical expenses related to pregnancy. This means that you can focus on where you feel the most safe and comfortable.

Who Gets to Be There

The birthing plan with the adoptive parents will depend on your level of openness, which is also something you decide. Working with your adoption professional, you can decide how much contact you’d like pre- and post-placement with the adoptive family. This includes during labor and delivery. If you’d like, your birthing plan with the adoptive parents can involve them being with you in the hospital. Or, if you’d prefer a bit more space, they can stay away until it’s time for placement.

“I wanted Amber to experience everything that I experienced and that she didn’t get to because she wasn’t able to conceive a child of her own,” Lindsey said about creating her hospital plan. “I knew going into the labor and delivery that I wanted that for her”

The Type of Medical Procedures

Every birth is unique from a medical perspective. There are a hundred little choices to make. Each one is up to you. Consulting the medical professionals and adoption agency, you can choose the type of medical care you would prefer during prenatal care, labor and delivery.

Your Time with the Baby

Would you like to spend time with your baby after birth before completing the adoption paperwork? This can be a part of your adoption birthing plan. It is your right to spend those sacred moments after birth with your baby, if that’s what you would like.

While things this this will be a part of your adoption birth plan, you also have a right to change your mind on the spot. For instance, you may have decided that you don’t want to spend time holding your baby, only to realize in the moment that you would like that time. You can do this at any point during the hospital stay.

Even after you’ve gone home, the support from your adoption agency doesn’t stop there. They can provide you with support and resources to help you cope with the emotions you may be experiencing.  Your specialist will help you think about how you’re going to spend your time when you get home from the hospital, who you can count on for support, and more.

These are a few of the ways you are in charge when it comes to the birth plan for adoption. Hopefully, this helps you feel confident about choosing adoption. On the other hand, you could be feeling worried about all the choices you’ll have to make. Don’t worry — you won’t be on your own.

WHO HELPS YOUR DURING YOUR ADOPTION HOSPITAL PLAN

The modern adoption process is designed to support prospective birth mothers. From start to finish, you will have the professional help you need to make the process as easy as possible.

These are the people and professionals that will play a part in your adoption birth plan:

Your Adoption Agency

Your adoption agency will provide support and guidance while creating your overall adoption plan, including your adoption hospital plan. The best agencies will be there for you 24/7 throughout the process, answering questions as they come up and ensuring that your plan happens as intended.

“You could tell they weren’t just putting on a front to make you want to do it or push you into it,” Angelica said about working with her adoption specialist. “They want whatever you want, and that’s what they told me during the whole process. It wasn’t up to them; they were just going to be there for me no matter what decision I made.”

For more information on finding and choosing an agency to help you create your newborn adoption birth plan, see below.

Your Medical Professionals

While your adoption agency is looking out for your adoption process, it’s most important to keep your health front and center. That’s where you medical professionals come into play. From the OBGYN to the hospital you choose for labor and delivery, your medical professionals will be an important piece your process. Remember, adoption financial assistance will cover all medical expenses related to your pregnancy.

The Adoptive Family

The birthing plan with adoptive parents is part of your overall relationship with the adoptive family through open adoption. You can choose the type of contact you hope to have with the adoptive family in your adoption. The adoptive parents will be there to support you in whatever capacity you would like them to be present.

Other Family and Friends

Your parents, the father of the baby or close friends could be a part of your adoption birth plan. Working with your adoption professional, you can decide who should be there to support you.

SAMPLE ADOPTION BIRTH PLAN

If you’re trying to get a sense of how to create an adoption hospital plan, you may be looking for adoption birth plan worksheets and other adoption birth plan templates. These birthing plan examples for adoption can be helpful, but, ultimately, the plan is made with the help of an adoption professional. That means you don’t have to figure it out on your own.

If you’d like to take a look at some adoption birth plan worksheets, you could look at the following guides:

• Can I Make an Adoption Hospital Plan? — American Adoptions
• Make Your Adoption Hospital Plan — Bitni
• How to Create an Adoption Hospital Plan — American Adopts
• Your Adoption Plan — Adoption for my Baby

GET HELP MAKING A BIRTH PLAN FOR ADOPTION

Ready to take your next step toward creating an adoption plan? If so, it’s time to start researching potential adoption agencies. Any agency you consider working with should be fully licensed, offer 24/7 availability and make you feel safe and encouraged.

Below you will find several agencies that could help you create an adoption birth plan:

• American Adoptions
• Gladney Center for Adoption
• Beacon House Adoption Services

If you want to get support with creating your birth plan for adoption, contact us today to be connected with an adoption professional for free. Your adoption professional will be happy to help you make the best adoption birth plan for you and your baby.