Pros and Cons of Last-Minute Adoptions & How They Work
There is no deadline or proper timeline for placing your child up for adoption. No matter the reasoning or circumstances, adoption is a valid choice whenever you decide to do it. Many women find themselves choosing adoption is a better choice after they have delivered the baby.
For various reasons, women in unexpected pregnancies find themselves seeking adoption but are scared to choose due to unsolicited opinions and negative stigma from the outside world.
In reality, an adoption is a selfless act, no matter the type of variation you decide. Adoption is placing the baby within the best care possible. So, whether it’s a preplanned adoption before pregnancy or a last-minute adoption after delivery, it is still an excellent and personal choice.
Compared to a “traditional” adoption that occurs before pregnancy, there are a few pros and cons to consider between the two. Understanding and educating yourself of where the two differ and are similar will help you make a balanced, confident decision that works the best for you and the baby.
For more information about adoption and last-minute adoption, feel free to reach out to Adoption Choices of New York for the details.
The Pros and Cons of Last-Minute Adoption
Last-minute adoptions are not as taboo as many would suspect. Some differences set it apart from an adoption planned before delivery. To help you determine which would work best for you, here are a few pros and cons to consider for the betterment of you and the baby.
Pro: More Likely to Emotionally Bond with Your Child
After delivering your child and taking care of them before the adoption period, you may find yourself feeling very attached to them. However, at the same time, you know that you are not ready for parenthood and want to find an adoptive family who will love and care for your child just as you would. For this reason, last-minute adoptions are often ideal for women who would prefer to have an open or semi-open adoption.
Pro: The Same Adoption Process at a Faster Pace
Last-minute adoptions tend to occur at a faster rate due to the circumstances. There’s usually always an adoptive family eager and open to caring for any child. Like a preplanned adoption, you can select the adoptive family for the baby. You can also still decide how many contacts you want to have between you and the adoptive family and the child after the adoption process.
Con: Limited-Time with Your Adopted Family
Once you choose the adoptive family for the baby, unfortunately, in a last-minute adoption, your time to get to know the family is limited. Looking for an adoptive family is a much longer process when the adoption is preplanned. For this reason, selecting and getting to know them has to happen in a shorter time frame.
So if you desire to stay an active part of the child’s life and the adoptive family, this may be not is a factor that you want, but it is the reality of the situation. In the future and after the adoption process, you have ample time to know them as people in the future.
Con: Less Time to Receive Adoption Counseling
There are services, like counseling, which are also limited in a last-minute adoption due to the fast pace. Often, birth mothers have counseling available to them during and after the adoption process to understand and navigate their emotions. Counseling services and post-placement support do not change in a last-minute adoption, but they have their limits.
The Pros and Cons of Preplanned Adoption
A preplanned adoption has many of the elements of a last-minute adoption. The main difference is that a preplanned adoption happens in a long time frame since there’s more planning involved. To make the best decision for yourself, it is essential to know how a preplanned adoption works.
Pro: More Time to Get to Know the Adoptive Family
As expressed before, in a preplanned adoption, a birth mother can take as much time as she needs to select the baby’s best adoptive family. In some cases, this may not be a factor, but some birth mothers prefer to know the family they are placing the child’s care in.
Pro: More Time with Counseling and Other Services
There is plenty of counseling and mental services that can assist you before, during and after the adoption process in a preplanned adoption. Depending on the state and your adoption process, having a preplanned adoption can maximize the care you receive.
In most cases, the state pays for these services to help the birth mother come to terms with the adoption and customize her adoption plan to whatever her needs and desires are.
Con: Shorter time to Bond with Child
In most cases, a last-minute adoption occurs post-delivery, meaning the birth mother can decide to place her baby for adoption right after birth or after she has spent time caring for the baby on her own.
In contrast, in most preplanned adoptions, there’s no time for the birth mother to have one-on-one time with the baby. This aspect can be an undesirable factor for many birth mother that want to stay in the child’s life post-adoption. But these details can also be discussed further with an adoption professional and the adoptive family to accommodate that need.
Last-Minute Adoption vs. Preplanned Adoption
The main difference between these two adoptions, as aforementioned, is the timing. In most cases, a last-minute adoption happens and is planned right after the baby is delivered. The birth mother has made little to no preparation for her decision. For that reason, it is essential to learn and know about adoption and the adoption if you are ever considering it.
Suppose you find yourself in an unexpected pregnancy and live in NY. Please do not hesitate to contact Adoption Choices of New York to help you gather more information.
Adoption Choices of New York is available to assist with your adoption plan. Call us, text us, email us; we are here for you!
Contact Us 24/7: 800-505-8592 (Phone) | 518-478-8420 | Click to Email
Meet the Author: Latee Wilburn is an experienced blog/copywriter and social media marketer from the University of Georgia. She has written for many women’s lifestyle spaces, like Society19, BeautyDepot. She has also written for Adspire.us, a start-up working to inform young women in the ad/marketing industry, as well as tell the stories of the successful women before them. Her latest experience was writing and maintaining social media accounts for the true-crime community, MurderMurder News.
Her experience with writing expanded from childhood. It officially began after a creative writing course while she attended Perimeter College. The passion and love for writing quickly grew, and she began to hone her skills in social media marketing and copywriting. Fusing her two experiences to cultivate meaningful copy with an extra creative flair.
She’s currently finishing up her last year at UGA, majoring in Communications. She plans to attend graduate school to get a Master’s in Psychology and become a psychotherapist to help children and young adults with their mental well-being. Until then, she resides in her cozy reading nook in Georgia with her two dogs, Daisy & Peanut.
