Questions & Answers
Here are a few questions that we’re frequently asked about placement, finalization, and traveling to meet your baby or child. If you don’t see your question below, please contact your Adoption Coordinator.
Do we have to fly? We were thinking of driving to save money.
No, flying isn’t a requirement but often it is the best option for maximizing the time you take off from work and your budget. A two day driving trip versus a three hour flight will cost just as much when you add up food, gas, and lodging, not to mention using more of your time off. Also, with a pregnancy involved, time-frames can change at a moment’s notice. You want to be flexible.
Additionally, a two day car trip home with a new baby can stretch into a nightmare pretty quickly. Babies have to be held, fed, burped, changed, and loved. It’s reasonable for two adults to sit in the car for a ten hour trip with just a couple stops, not so much with a baby.
Both ways can work, you just need patience, planning, and flexibility.
When is the best time to tell my daughter about her adoption?
You should introduce your child to the concept of adoption as soon possible. Most children love to hear stories about adoption. There are wonderful children’s books available just for this reason. Begin showing books and stories with your children from the moment they come family.
Whenever the word adoption is present in your home, mention it with love and joy. Tell your child the story of the day you first saw them and the excitement and happiness you felt.
Express the positive details of the adoption, and how blessed you all were to find each other. If you always hold your daughter’s birth mother up as a loving and a beautiful person who cared about her enough to choose the best life for her, your child will never doubt that she is loved.
To learn more you might also want to read “Twenty Things Adopted Kids Wish Their Adoptive Parents Knew,” by Sherry Eldridge.