One of the most important decisions you’ll make throughout the process is choosing the level of contact you wish to have with the adoptive family.

In this guide, you’ll find everything you need to know about your options for choosing adoption while pregnant, along with a breakdown of the three types of adoption you can choose from.

If you have any questions about how to begin the adoption process, then you can fill out this contact form to get more free information now from an adoption professional.

Your 3 Adoption Options for Unplanned Pregnancy

Choosing adoption while pregnant puts you in control of the entire process. This includes deciding how much contact you want to have with the adoptive family and your child.

Knowing the differences in the types of adoption can help you determine what kind of relationship you want with your child. Below are three types of adoption relationships you can pursue:

1. Open Adoption

Many studies have shown that most birth mothers prefer this type of adoption and that it’s the best arrangement for everyone involved. Open adoption allows you to keep in touch with the adoptive parents and your child, creating a relationship beyond the adoption.

A few decades ago, open adoptions weren’t as common as they are now. Today, open adoptions are encouraged and have proven to be beneficial for birth mothers. Choosing adoption before birth means you get to decide on nearly all aspects of the adoption process, commonly referred to as your “adoption plan.” This includes choosing:

• The adoptive family you want for your baby
• The amount of contact you wish to share with the adoptive family
• What you want your hospital stay to look like
• How much contact you wish to have with your child in the future
• And much more

Open adoption creates a transparent environment with your child and the adoptive family. Getting to know the adoptive family establishes a bond you will both share after your baby is born. Keeping an open relationship by sharing photos, life experiences and milestones is a way to stay connected to your child even after placement.

“Adoption has changed my life for the better. I’m able to be a part of my son’s life while also gaining a new family in Katie and Andy,” birth mother Rebecca said about her open adoption. “We hit it off instantly, and they became a huge support in any choice I made. I chose to place my son to a family through adoption, but adoption truly chose me.”

2. Semi-Open/Mediated Adoption

Semi- open adoption, sometimes called mediated adoption, is considered the best of both worlds in terms of communication. Some birth mothers who pursue adoption while pregnant wish to keep their distance from the adoption because of personal needs.

This can mean keeping a relative amount of space to cope and move forward from the adoption or simply not wanting a relationship with the adoptive family and child. Semi-open adoption allows you to get to know the adoptive family and feel confident that your baby is going to a loving and caring home.

Choosing this type of adoption while pregnant allows you to keep an open line of communication with the adoptive family to receive any important updates as your child grows up. In a semi-open adoption, contact with the adoptive family is often mediated by your adoption professional. This can mean that anything sent by the adoptive family goes to your adoption professional first, who will then send the items – such as pictures and letters – to you.

When it comes to choosing semi-open adoption while pregnant, some advantages include:

• The ability for you to choose and get to know an adoptive family to ensure your child has the best life possible
• A sense of privacy after you’ve decided to have some level of contact after the adoption
• Contact mediated by an adoption professional
• Help coping with any post-adoption emotions you may be feeling through updates from the adoptive family
• Reduced fear and guilt by allowing for mediated contact between you and the adoptive family to ensure the health and safety of your child

3. Closed Adoption

Closed adoption is a type of adoption that involves little to no contact between the birth parents and the adoptive family. Generally, when you pursue this type of adoption while pregnant, identifying information such as last names and personal contact information remains confidential.

Throughout most of adoption’s history, this was a common type of relationship because of the social stigmas surrounding single motherhood. As a result, people who faced an unplanned pregnancy would often do anything they could to hide it from friends and family.

Some would even be sent away during their pregnancies, returning to their hometowns only after giving birth to their child. Their child would then be placed for adoption by the doctor or adoption facility without much input from the birth mother.

This led to many adoptees never knowing where they came from or how to get in touch with their birth parents. In contrast, birth parents lost contact with their children forever, always wondering where they ended up or if they were doing OK. This adoption option for your unplanned pregnancy can prove to be challenging for both birth mothers and adoptees. 

Unfortunately, this is what people think about when they choose adoption before birth, but the reality is adoption has changed drastically. Because of how problematic closed adoptions can be, open adoptions have become more prevalent throughout the years. Although you can still choose closed adoption, open adoption is more beneficial.

“Without an open adoption, I’m sure I would feel as if I were missing a part of myself, and I’d likely have some resentment,” adoptee Diana says about her experience with open adoption. “I credit the open-heartedness of my birth and adoptive families as the reason why I have such positive feelings toward my adoption.”

If you’re pursuing adoption while pregnant and have any questions about beginning the adoption process, then you can get more free information now from an experienced adoption professional. We’d be happy to help!