Adoption Stories

Telling our adoption story is something we have gotten used to by now. Our friends and family can probably recite it without any prompting at all. In telling our story we have found people that had thought about adopting but for one reason or another had not gone through with it. The amazing thing to us is the number of people who have misconceptions about the options that are out there for adoptive parents.

The most common myth we hear is that it takes years to adopt. We can name at least five couples that got their children in less than 6 months. Not to say that there aren't couples that wait years. But not every couple waits that long. The point is that because we were willing to share our experience there have been others that decided to look further into adoption. Some of those couples have now completed the process. Maybe your situation will have the same effect on someone.

If you would like to share your story drop it to us in an e-mail.

Our Story

We began looking into adoption several years ago. We met with an "adoption consultant" to gather information on the process. We even had our first visit for the home evaluation. During the process an interviewer asked several questions and made a point of discussing how to discipline children with us. We left the interview feeling angry at her. "How dare this woman tell us what we should and shouldn't do " was our attitude. We decide to step back form the process and reevaluate our situation. We waited three more years to revisit adoption as a means to build our family.

This time we went to a different adoption consultant. Gloria Hawk owns an adoption consulting business called Adoption Advice and Guidance. She was great. She listened to our concerns and talked to us about the possibilities of adopting. She was also quick to point out the realities of the process. She discussed the expenses that we faced and what we could expect with our budget. It was great information but a bit shocking. She talked to us about medical issues we could face in dealing with babies whose birth mother had been into drugs or alcohol. We left the first visit with a home work assignment, put together a birth mother booklet. Gloria provided examples of these booklets, and ideas to make it attractive. Our heads were spinning from the amount of information, but Gloria was great at encouraging us. We felt confident that we had made a good first step in the process.

In the second visit Gloria reviewed our booklet and offered suggestions. She also provided us with contact information on three organizations in our price range. She advised that we focus on one of these agencies. We considered all of them and settled on one. We worked hard to get the items together for this agency. Gloria checked in with us on a regular basis and we kept in touch with her (pestered is probably a better way to describe it). She asked to send our information to two additional adoption agencies while we waited on the agency of our choice. We were considered for two adoptions, but neither worked out. We contacted Gloria about another agency one evening, after answering our questions about the agency, Gloria let us know we had been selected by a birth mother in Las Vegas. One of the agencies she sent our book to let this birth mom see it and she chose us. We were elated!! Gloria provided all the details for making initial contact with the agency. As we worked to get everything in order for the adoption, Gloria was always available to us. About 4 weeks later our daughter arrived.