Adoptive Parents

What Are My Options?

The process of adoption begins with pre-adoption education, support and counseling. And the first step is often resolving issues surrounding infertility. If you have such issues, FFTA can provide you with individual counseling, group counseling or a referral to a national infertility support group, such as the National Infertility Network Exchange , the American Fertility Association or Resolve: The National Infertility Association or a local Adoption support group such as The Adoptive Parents Committee with an informative newsletter and monthly meetings in New York State, New Jersey and Connecticut.

Once the decision to adopt is made, your FFTA counselor will discuss the options that are available to you. For example… Would you like to pursue a domestic adoption or an international one? Are you considering a non-identified adoption or an identified one?* Are you committed to adopting a newborn of your racial and/or ethnic background or are you willing to broaden your horizons? Could you accept the possible issues associated with a child who has had prenatal exposure to drugs and/or alcohol? Can you see yourself adopting a physically challenged child? How about a sibling group?

After you decide which road to adoption you would like to pursue, FFTA will walk you through the steps you need to take to help you identify a child and then comply with all of the legal requirements to adopt that child.

The first step is to decide whether to focus your adoption efforts domestically or internationally...

* An Identified Adoption is an adoption arranged by adoptive parents and birth parents who already know each other, but the process is done through a licensed agency. Also known as a “Parent-Initiated Adoption.”