I Am Pregnant
Starting the Adoption Process: Creating an Adoption Plan
Create a plan for your adoption so you can feel comfortable about the adoption process and your baby’s future.
Knowing Your Options for Your Unplanned Pregnancy
An unplanned pregnancy comes with three main options: parenting, adoption, or abortion. Each path comes with its considerations, and the right choice is the one that feels best for you. Our caseworkers are here to provide honest, judgement-free guidance so you can confidently explore your options. If you choose adoption, we offer financial assistance, medical support, and personalized planning to make the process easier. No matter your decision, we’re here to support you.
Resources Available to You
We want you to know your options so you feel comfortable navigating the adoption process with an adoption plan. We help mothers at all stages of adoption, whether you just learned you’re pregnant or your baby is already here. Our experienced staff including lawyers, case workers, and counselors will explain all of your legal rights and options, while supporting you through the adoption process.
- Financial assistance: A Baby Step Adoption will review your budget and find every resource for you and your family to assure a safe pregnancy. This could include all pregnancy-related expenses, housing services, food and maternity clothes.
- Open or closed adoption agreements: We work with all kinds of families and can help you find the best type of adoption for you.
- Design your own adoption plan: You decide how you want your pregnancy and adoption to go, and we’ll be here to support.
- Free legal services: A Baby Step Adoption has attorneys available to make sure you know your legal rights and that your adoption plan meets every legal requirement.
- Confidential and private: All communications are private and confidential, and we take steps to ensure no information is disclosed without your consent.
- Free assistance: All of our services are free, and we offer lifetime support for our birth mothers.
What is an Adoption Plan?
Adoption plans cover every step of your pregnancy, delivery, and adoption hand off. We’ll help you decide whether an open or closed adoption is right for you. We can also help you pick a loving home for your baby from our list of waiting families. We’ll even help you create a birth plan as part of your adoption plan so you can know what to expect when you give birth. Our case workers can also help with the handoff so everything goes smoothly when you send your baby off with their new family.
Creating a Hospital Plan
A hospital plan helps give you peace of mind as your due date approaches. Before the baby arrives, we’ll help you decide who you want in the delivery room. We’ll arrange with your doctor and other care professionals to let them know you are considering adoption and communicate your birth plan so you don’t have to explain the situation to the hospital staff. Once the baby’s here, we’ll handle the hand off so your baby can transition to their new family easily.
Planning for After the Adoption
After you give birth, you can rely on our experienced case workers to support you. You will likely feel a flood of emotions after the adoption placement. We offer lifetime support for our birthmothers, whether you need help with education, career services, or housing to help you achieve your goals. We will help you work through your feelings and help you on the path to a happy and healthy life.
Creating Your Adoption Plan
Planning for an adoption starts as soon as you reach out to us, but you can always change your mind if adoption isn’t right for you.
Considering Your Options
The very first step when facing an unplanned pregnancy is to consider all of your options. There are three main options: parenting the baby, giving a baby up for adoption, or abortion. A Baby Step Adoption will talk you through all of these options to help you decide which plan is the right one for you. You can always research online and talk with friends and family who know you and can help you through the decision making process.
Finding an Adoption Agency
If you decide to give your baby up for adoption, the next step is to choose an adoption agency. An adoption agency should never judge your choices. They should have your best interest at heart and make you feel comfortable that you are making a selfless choice for you and your child.
A local adoption agency can be helpful but not necessary. Having a local Pennsylvania adoption agency that provides in-person support will be different than working with one that is out of state, where most of your communication will be over the phone. No matter where you are, Make sure you feel comfortable with the adoption specialist. It’s important to have a relationship where you can trust your advocate on your adoption journey.
Make an Adoption Plan
Once you choose the agency you want to work with, you can decide on what type of adoption plan you want: open adoption, semi-open adoption, or closed adoption. The type of adoption plan you choose will determine the kind of contact you will have with the adoptive family and the baby throughout the adoption process as well as in the future. Your agency will help you understand what options for giving your baby up for adoption are, so you can decide what feels right for you.
Choose a Family
Looking for someone to adopt your baby and choosing a family is totally up to you. It is an exciting part of the adoption process. We have many loving, pre-approved waiting families you can search to find the perfect match for you and your baby.
Make a Hospital Plan
Once you have made the biggest decisions about your adoption options, your case worker can help you make a plan for the hospital. They will guide you through the process so you are never alone. Your case worker can even be in the room with you during delivery. Just remember the details are entirely up to you and what feels comfortable to you.
Place the Baby for Adoption
The pregnancy is over and your baby is with the adoptive family. In Pennsylvania, the adoption can only be finalized starting 72 hours after birth. Just know that above all else, you didn’t give up your baby for adoption or put your child up for adoption. You made a selfless choice to choose adoption and you gave the gift of parenthood to a family who couldn’t have a child without you.
Post Adoption Support
Giving up your baby for adoption is not the end of your adoption journey. Depending on what kind of adoption you choose, you may have ongoing contact with the child and adoptive parents. In Pennsylvania, you can create a post adoption contact contract, meaning you create an agreement with your adoptive family, and by law, they must follow it. Regardless of what kind of adoption you chose, we will provide you with emotional support for life — we’re here whenever you need us.
Learn More About the Adoption Process
We aim to make the adoption process as clear as possible so you know what to expect. Read more about how adoption works so there are no surprises.
The Adoption Process in Pennsylvania
The adoption process in PA is different from other states, and you’ll want to work with a Pennsylvania-specific adoption agency if you live in Pennsylvania. In most cases, giving a baby up for adoption starts when you consider adoption and reach out to an agency. From there, adoption specialists can work with you to help you create an adoption plan.
Another step that many birth mothers worry about is choosing an adopting family. With ABSA, we have pre-approved waiting families that you can browse and decide who to learn more about. Typically birth mothers choose an adopting family in the middle of the adoption process, before the birth. Once you give birth, an adoption agency will help you place your baby for adoption with their new family and help you adjust to life after the adoption.
If you’re worried about the adoption process, you can learn more about how adoption works in Pennsylvania on our blog. If you want to consider making an adoption plan, call or text us at 610-613-1911. We are here for you every step of the way.
You have options!
Contact us to discuss all your options and answer all questions. You can change your mind at any time during the adoption process