Adoption Counseling

• Explore and learn about the options of parenting and adoption.
• Support through the decision-making process.
• Information about adoption, including understanding the legal process, and choosing the type of adoption best for you and your child.
• Connection to available resources and services.
• Care through a variety of emotions, including love, loss, sadness, grief, and joy during pregnancy and post-delivery.

Adoption Planning

• Your Good Shepherd Adoption Specialist will discuss all the stages in the adoption process with you. Remember, it is your decision. Our role is to empower you to make the right decisions for you and your baby.
• A birth parent can make an adoption plan for a child of any age.

Post-Adoption Support

• We continue to offer post-adoption support for as long as you need it, including counseling referrals.
• With open and semi-open adoption plans, you will continue to have ongoing contact with the adoptive family through updates, letters, and post-adoption visits according to your unique openness plan.

During Your Pregnancy

• Receive comprehensive adoption education, counseling, and support, along with referrals toward educational goals, housing, budgeting, and mental health resources (as needed).
• Discuss the legal process of adoption with reputable and experienced lawyers will will represent you in the adoption and who will explain your rights.
• Discuss types of openness (open, semi-open, and closed) and determine the right plan for you and your child. We will work to find a family that is compatible with your desired level of openness.
• View adoptive family profiles and select an adoptive family. We have singles and two-parent families from divers backgrounds, and work to find a family that matches your desires.
• Meet the adoptive family. If you prefer not to meet or select a family, we can do this on your behalf.
• Make a hospital plan. Your Good Shepherd worker will help you create a customized plan before delivery.

At the Hospital

• Your Good Shepherd worker will come to the hospital after delivery to drive support and help you complete necessary paperwork.
• Voluntary termination of parental right swill occur no sooner than 48 hours after birth with the counsel of an experienced adoption lawyer.

You are strong and brave; love is expressed in many ways and doing with is best for you and your baby is as much our goal as it is yours.

Adoptive Placement

• If you are making an adoption plan for a newborn, the baby can go home with the adoptive family.
• If you need more time to consider your decision, an approved family can care for the baby temporarily.
• The adoptive family will continue to have supervision with their adoption specialist for six months.