If you or your partner are expecting a baby and considering adoption, you’re facing an incredibly important and difficult decision. The choice is yours, and you have options.
Your options
Placing your child for adoption is one of the biggest decisions you will ever make. Adoption is a lifelong experience for everyone involved: birth families, adoptees, and adoptive families. It’s very important that you understand all your options.
Choosing adoption doesn’t have to mean you’ll never see your child again. Many birth parents remain actively connected to their children through open adoption.
Choosing to parent
If you want to parent your child but you’re facing hardships or barriers, there are resources that can help. BC 211 is a good place to start.
Choosing to place your child for adoption
If you want to choose adoption, you have several options .
If you have relatives who want to adopt the child, you can choose a relative adoption.
If you want someone else you know to adopt your child, you can choose a direct placement.
If you want someone you don’t already know to adopt your child, you can choose to work with an adoption agency. The agency will help you place your child with approved and waiting adoptive parents. You can help choose the adoptive family and if you want, you can stay in contact after the adoption process is complete.
No matter what type of adoption you choose, you won’t be charged any fees.
Learn more about placing your child for adoption on the BC government’s website.
Other temporary and permanent choices
If adoption doesn’t feel right for you and you’re not sure you’re ready to parent, there are other options. You may want to consider placing your child in a a temporary care arrangement through MCFD, or exploring another form of permanency such as guardianship or kinship care.
A note for birth fathers
If you believe you are the father of a child who may be placed for adoption without your knowledge or consent, you can register your name on the Parent Registry to receive notification of the proposed adoption. You can register before the child is born or up to 150 days after placement.
Support
British Columbia’s licensed adoption agencies provide free, unbiased counselling to expectant parents. An agency worker will tell you about your options so you can make an informed choice for you and your child. They will not try to convince you to place your child for adoption. They will tell help you decide whether or not it’s the best choice for you.
Our Family Support team would be happy to talk with you and answer your questions. You can contact them at 778-897-1315 or familysupport@belongingnetwork.com.
Search and reunion
If you’re a birth parent whose child was placed in a closed adoption, you may be curious about your child and interested in accessing their records or exploring reunion options.
Learn more about search and reunion.
