ADOPTIONS CONTINUE DURING THE QUARANTINE

As the quarantine continues, I am getting better at video interviews with clients and colleagues. New work has slowed down dramatically and while many are holding off on starting, I am still getting calls from singles and couples for information about the adoption process.

And those with approved homestudies are forging ahead. They are placing ads, texting, talking and video chatting with birth parents, and, yes, even traveling to bring home their babies. In the past month, I have had families go to California, Florida, Colorado, Upstate New York, New Jersey and the Carolinas.

It is important to review and reconsider your hospital plan with all the Covid-19 rules now in place.  Will you still be able to be in the delivery room? Be provided access to the nursery or your own room while the baby is hospitalized? Will you even be allowed in the hospital? This is critical information for you and the birth parents to investigate. You need to also confirm any living or hotel arrangements in the state of the baby's birth.

Will you be expected to quarantine when you return to your home? How will you handle the "no visit" issue with grandparents, aunts, uncles, friends, etc.? Also, ask your agency or attorney if there are any changes in the process in your home state or the state where your child will be born.

While there is much to add to your check list, you do not have to cancel your adoption plans.

Wishing you the safest adoption journey possible.

Kathy Ann Brodsky, LCSW is a New York and New Jersey licensed social worker, adoptive mom and advocate for ethical adoption practice. Through her private practice and agency affiliations, she has prepared  thousands of adoption  homestudies, counseled  expectant, birth, pre/post adoptive parents and  adopted  persons, as  well  as trained  professionals  to  work  with  adoptive  families. She  was Director of the  Ametz  Adoption  Program of  JCCA and a member of the Advisory Board for POV’s Adoption  Series and the  Adoption  Advisory  Board  of  Path2Parenthood, She is currently a  Adoption   Professional   Advisory  Council  of  HelpUSAdopt , a member of the Advisory Board of the Family Equality Council and  active  in  the  Adoptive Parents Committee in  New  York.  Her  blogs  and  written contributions can be seen throughout the Internet, including  her  BLOG  and  as  Head  Writer  for  ADOPTION.NET   She  was  named  an  “Angel in Adoption” by the Congressional Coalition on Adoption in 2001. You can reach her directly.