During National Adoption Month, we interviewed families from local AFTH offices to learn about their experiences and will be sharing their stories here. This adoptive family thought they were perfectly prepared for their adoption journey, but nothing could really prepare for the experience ahead.

National Adoption Month Week Four with logo
Kristy has worked in the adoption field for over 11 years and has seen the incredible benefits of open adoption.“I have personally seen how open adoption has taken away secrecy and shame and has given the opportunity to not only add a child to your family but also extend your family with the inclusion of birthparents as well. Adoption is a lifelong experience for all those involved and so I strongly believe in being open to fostering life-long relationships with a child’s birthparents as well. For us, it was about trying to do the best thing for our child. It is about giving her as many answers as we can about her identity and giving her the space to ask questions and go through all her emotions, positive and negative surrounding her adoption. Each adoptive parent and birthparent relationship is different and our relationship has deepened over the past 6 months as we are now in direct contact on Facebook and through email. We look forward to the day when our daughter’s birthmother is ready for a visit so we can return our baby girl, hers and ours, to her arms and then can snuggle and connect on a new level. I truly never imaged the depth of the love I could have for someone I’ve never met however the first moment I looked into our daughter’s eye my heart filled up with love for her birthmother beyond what words can describe.”
Everything happened quickly for Kristy and her family, because they had decided to be very open with their profile key. “Because of our key and the situations we were open to as well as having both adoption and quite a bit of racial diversity in our family coupled with our wiliness to do several visits a year, we had an idea that our wait would probably not be extremely long however you never really know. We submitted our application at the end of October and by the middle of March we were in the books and available to be shown to expecting parents considering adoption. Exactly 6 months to the day we submitted our application, we received the call and the very next day we met our daughter.”
“I think just like any other relationship, that relationships between adoptive parents and birthparents take a lot of work and change and develop over time. Not one scenario is perfect for all situations however I believe that it is necessary to make a commitment to your child do so whatever is truly in their best interest, not only as an infant but as they grow up as well, no matter how hard it may be for you. The idea of open adoption can be scary at first especially since the media often portrays the most sensationalized stories about adoption however with research a prospective adoptive parent should weigh the benefits of open adoption for to everyone involved against their fears and push through to do what is truly the best path.”