Part 1- THE DECISION

Choosing adoption was easy for us. I’ve always known I wanted kids. My husband came around to the idea of kids after we got together. We’ve been on the same page for a long time, but it just wasn’t happening for us “the old fashioned” way. “Unexplained infertility” was all that doctors could tell us and we had to decide what to do next if we were serious about growing our family.

My husband was the one who suggested adoption, pointing out that we have a habit of collecting people wherever we go and making a family. As soon as he said it, it felt so right. Our found family and our biological family have become one for us, and it’s been this way for a long time. Because of that, adoption felt right to us.

We did not come to adoption because we were desperate and it was the only option. 

We chose to walk this path, and it has been frustrating, devastating, ridiculous, and ultimately very rewarding. We support anyone who chooses to make a family, whatever way they do it. For us, it made sense to find a kid who needed someone and to be that someone for them.

And there are a LOT of people who have helped us on this journey.

We found ourselves originally pulled toward adopting a child from foster care, but found that in our area that would not be an option for us. One of the nice things about adoption in Florida is that a child in foster care can’t be matched unless the parental rights have already been severed. This is so that foster parents will support reunification plans for these families. Foster-to-adopt isn’t done in FL. In our county the only young children eligible for adoption from foster care when we were adopting, were part of larger family groups or had extreme medical needs and we didn’t feel qualified to take on either of those scenarios.

After what we learned in that session, I encourage anyone who feels that they CAN, to consider adoption from foster care. There are so many sibling groups and older children who need to find a stable forever home.

We ended up deciding to go with domestic infant adoption for a number of reasons (some of which I share on social media, in case you’re interested) and chose an agency that specializes in Florida adoptions (Heart of Adoptions Inc). We knew our lives were changing forever and we dove into the process head first, which is how we make most big decisions in our lives. 

Stay tuned for Part 2- THE PROCESS