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Giving Baby for Adoption at the Hospital [5 Steps]

If you have just given birth and realized that you cannot be a parent, adoption is an option for you. Contact an adoption professional now to get the services and support you need. For immediate support, you may want to call a 24-hour hotline, like 1-800-ADOPTION.

Adoption is a significant, life-changing choice, and it’s difficult to place a deadline on that. Although pregnancy itself has a deadline of roughly nine months, plenty of prospective birth mothers consider adoption later in their pregnancies or even right before or after delivery. You could be wondering, “Can you decide to give your baby up for adoption at the hospital?” There are a few things about this to bear in mind.

First of all, the short answer is “yes.” You can absolutely place your baby for adoption at the hospital. Adoption is always an option, no matter how early or late you decide that it is the right path for you and your child. You can even choose adoption weeks or months after bringing your baby home.

In other words, it is never too late to decide that adoption is your best option.

The second thing to know is that you are not alone in wondering about “giving baby for adoption” at the hospital. Plenty of prospective birth mothers complete last-minute hospital adoptions, and you can find the support you need. It is completely normal to place your baby for adoption after delivery, and there’s no shame or judgment in doing so.

The third point is that, when you choose adoption, you are not “giving up.” Though “giving baby up for adoption” is one of the most common phrases people use when they talk about adoption, it completely misses the point. Their hearts may be in the right place, but this statement implies that adoption is a negative choice. In reality, you are giving your child a life of love and opportunity. It’s an incredibly selfless decision that places your child’s needs before your own.

In the meantime, continue reading to learn more about how to “give a baby up” for adoption at the hospital.

What Is the Process for “Giving Baby up” for Adoption at the Hospital?

The process for completing a hospital adoption is like the process you would complete if you were choosing adoption earlier in your pregnancy — it just moves faster.. Below are the five steps you’ll need to take to complete your hospital adoption.

Step 1: Choose Adoption

If you are wondering how to “give a baby up” for adoption at the hospital, then you have likely already decided that adoption is the right path for your child and yourself. But, if you haven’t quite decided yet, then remember that you must be absolutely confident in this decision before you move forward with an adoption plan.

Only you know what is best for you and your child, so no one can make this choice for you. If you feel that adoption is the best choice available to you, then you can confidently move forward with your plan to complete a hospital adoption.

Step 2: Contact an Adoption Agency Now

After you’ve chosen a hospital adoption, it will be time to choose an adoption professional to help you complete it. For this step, we recommend working with a larger adoption agency that has experience with last-minute hospital adoptions.

When you work with a larger agency for your hospital adoption, you will be working with an adoption professional that already has relationships with several hopeful adoptive families. Many of these families will be willing to travel to you immediately to complete a hospital adoption.

Step 3: Choose Your Baby’s Adoptive Parents

Speaking of hopeful adoptive families, you will get to choose your child’s adoptive family, even for prospective birth mothers deciding on a last-minute hospital adoption. Through an experienced, trusted adoption professional, you can browse waiting adoptive family profiles and choose one that feels right for your child, all from your hospital room.

Your adoption professional can set up a call so that you can talk to the hopeful adoptive parents. If all goes well, then the adoptive family will immediately travel to you so that you can all complete the process of “giving baby up” for adoption at the hospital.

Step 4: “Give up Baby” at the Hospital

Once you’ve chosen the adoptive parents for your baby, they will travel to the hospital to meet you and your baby as soon as they can. How the hospital adoption goes exactly is up to you. Ahead of the adoptive parents’ arrival, you can speak with your adoption professional to determine whether you want to meet them in person or even interact with them in general.

If you need space and do not wish to see the adoptive parents, then this is absolutely an option for you.

When the adoptive family arrives and your state’s minimum waiting period has passed, you can grant your official consent to the adoption. This process varies depending on what state you live in, but you’ll be signing away your parental rights and responsibilities to the adoptive parents. This can be a difficult time, but know that you are making an incredibly selfless sacrifice to give your child the best life possible.

Step 5: Adjust to Your Post-Placement Life as a Birth Mother

We always recommend some degree of openness in adoption whenever possible. This is because you can still maintain a relationship with your child and their adoptive family after you complete your hospital adoption. You can all stay in touch through photos, handwritten letters, phone calls, in-person visits or whatever you feel comfortable with. In an open adoption, finalization is never “goodbye.” It’s simply “see you later.”

Remember that prospective birth mothers can choose adoption during their hospital stay, and this means you can “give a baby up” for adoption in the hospital. You can even choose adoption for your baby after returning home from the hospital. In other words, it is never too late to choose adoption for your child. For more information, please don’t hesitate to contact us today.