Is Adoption the Right Plan for my Baby?
Find Support at Hannah's Hope
Considering an Adoption Plan?
An unplanned pregnancy can be scary, but Hannah’s Hope is here to help.
An unplanned pregnancy can leave you feeling overwhelmed, fearful, and anxious over your future and your baby’s future. Adoption is an unselfish and loving choice made by parents who find themselves unable to meet all of the responsibilities of raising a child.
There are many circumstances that lead to adoption. Maybe you haven’t completed your education and don’t feel ready to provide for a child. Maybe you have other children and know that you are already stretched too thin. Maybe you don’t feel comfortable being a single parent.
Your future and your baby’s future is important to us. Finding a loving family through adoption provides you the peace of mind that your child will grow up in a forever home with responsible, loving parents. With Hannah’s Hope, you have the opportunity to be actively involved in choosing the right family for your baby.
Selecting a Family
Hannah’s Hope considers it an honor to help you choose a loving family for your child. To assist you in this process, Hannah’s Hope provides expecting parents with profile books designed to introduce you to approved adoptive families who would be a good match for you and your baby.
Potential adoptive families undergo extensive interviews, in a process taking several months, before being approved as adoptive families. These interviews include verifying the following:
- Background checks
- Financial stability
- Recognized as healthy and physically able to care for a child
- Healthy mental and emotional state
- Pre-adoption counseling
- Adoption Education
- Infant Safety and Care Courses
Hannah’s Hope is actively involved in the prospective adoptive families’ lives. Together, we can carefully select the right family for your child and we will strive to honor any special request that you may have regarding your baby’s adoptive parents.
Licensed by the State of Tennessee, Hannah’s Hope provides caring, confidential, and professional services to birth parents without regard to race, religion, national origin, or life circumstances.
Adoption Types
There are a few different types of adoption you can choose from. A Hannah’s Hope counselor can explain these in more detail during your consultation call.
A closed adoption means there is no contact or identifying information shared between birth parents and adoptive parents.
With a semi-open adoption, a liaison from the agency all contact between the birth parent(s) and adoptive family goes through the agency. Adoptive families and birth parents contact social workers to request updates and/or photos to share updates on life.
Open adoption means the biological and adoptive families have met and stay in direct contact with each other. Agency staff is always available to assist, but only if adoptive families and/or birth parents request it. If you are feeling anxious or wondering about your child, some form of open adoption plan may be right for you. Your counselor will help you consider the options and choose the best plan for your peace of mind.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a birth mother/father/parent?
A birth mother or first mother are terms used to describe a woman after she gives birth and makes an adoption plan for her child. A birth father is the term used to describe the biological father of a child placed for adoption.
As the birth mother, what will this cost me?
Choosing adoption doesn’t cost the birth mother anything. All necessary services will be provided by Hannah’s Hope. Additionally, the birth mother does not need to have clothes, a carseat, or any other items.
Who has parental rights to my child in the State of Tennessee?
Only the birth mother and birth father have parental rights in the State of Tennessee. (Grandparents or other family members do not hold these rights.)
What happens if I don’t have contact or know the birth father?
Agency staff will be able to assist you whether the birth father is known or not.
For adoption, do both birth parents' rights have to be terminated?
Yes. Both parents’ rights will have to be terminated.
The Hannah’s Hope legal team will handle all legal aspects of termination for both birth parents.
Even though adoption is the right choice for me, I’m worried I will never know about or see my birth child again.
Hannah’s Hope is an open adoption agency. We only work with prospective adoptive couples who are open to having a relationship with the birth parents.
* Names changed for the privacy of Hannah’s Hope families