How did you meet your child’s birth mother?

Lawyers advice: look for birth-mothers during sports events ?

December 10th, 2010

Posted By: Margie C

Categories: How To..., Independent Adoption, Process, Waiting

I spoke to an adoption attorney the other day and he had some interesting advice for couples who are hoping to adopt. (This guy knows his stuff–he only does adoptions and handles between thirty-five to fifty a year.) While most of the couples he works with have located a birth mother through their own networking, occasionally hopeful parents arrive in his office without a birthmother. When that happens he likes to share this story of one pair’s ingenious plan to find one. This couple had tickets to a nationally televised sporting event and figured that they could reach a lot of people if they made a sign which expressed their desire to adopt an infant. They made the sign and took it to the game.

While their sign didn’t end up on national television, it did catch the eye of a cameraman who then convinced his local television station to run a human interest story on the couple. A young woman who was pregnant saw the story on the news, liked the couple, and chose them to raise her unborn child.

This couple cast a really wide net and ended up finding someone right in their own community. I suppose that nothing is too crazy or far-fetched for couples who are trying to locate a birth mother, but the more people who know of your desire, the more likely you are to reach the one person who can make your dream come true.

This same attorney also tells couples that Christmas is the perfect time of year to get their message out. He advises them to send holiday greetings to everyone they can possibly think of: neighbors, school friends, coworkers, and even distant relatives, and then be sure to include their desire to adopt a child in their message.

Talking to this attorney got me thinking about how adoptive parents meet birth mothers…. I met my son’s through friends.

If you are an adoptive parent, how did you meet your child’s birth mother? If you are hoping to adopt, how are you networking to get the message out? I am sure there are others who would like to hear your stories! I know I would.