How To Put Your Baby Up For Adoption After Birth in NJ
Choosing to put your baby up for adoption after it’s already been born is an incredibly difficult, but often a very brave decision to make. Fortunately, last-minute adoptions in New Jersey are perfectly legal, and it is not too late to put your newborn up for adoption. New Jersey’s Safe Haven laws allow you 30 days to anonymously put your baby up for adoption after birth, if you feel like that is the best move for you and your baby’s future.
No matter what your reasons are, here are the steps for post-labor adoption in New Jersey.
1. Make Sure It’s The Right Decision
When considering something as serious and permanent as adoption, it’s important to make sure you’ve thought about the situation thoroughly and clearly. Be sure to assess all of your options carefully to make sure adoption is the right choice for you and your baby, and just remember that there is no shame in doing whatever you decide.
Be sure you’re making the decision for yourself and nobody else, and for all other questions, A Baby Step Adoption is here to help.
2. Contact Adoption Agency
When working with adoption professionals, make sure it’s an agency that you trust and keeps your best interests their top priority. Once you have selected an agency that feels right for you, an adoption coordinator will meet you, present you with your options, and help outline your next steps. This process can be done simply, no matter where you are, including if you are still in the hospital after giving birth.
3. Choose An Adoptive Family
Your adoption coordinator will present you with some of the families waiting and hoping to receive a baby to love and care for. Be sure to look over each family carefully, making sure you feel comfortable trusting them with raising your baby. This is completely your decision, so choose a family that you feel aligns with the vision you have for your baby’s future.
The waiting families at A Baby Step Adoption are prepared for last-minute adoptions, and will meet with you when and wherever you might be.
4. Decide What Type of Adoption You Would Like
In New Jersey, you can select from three types of adoption plans.
Open Adoption
In cases of open adoptions, there is as much communication between you and your baby’s adoptive parents as you would like. You may receive updates on the child’s life, photos, and may even be able to visit as long as the adoptive parents are okay with that. However, it’s important to mention that even though open adoption allows for communication between your baby’s new family and yourself, the adoptive parents have the right to cease communication if they so choose.
Closed Adoption
In closed adoption cases, the process is done completely anonymously, and you do not have any communication with the adoptive parents. This choice is completely valid and yours to make, but be sure that it’s what you want, because it is not reversible.
Semi-Open Adoption
Semi-Open Adoption allows for communication between yourself and the adoptive parents over text and phone calls, but no in-person visits.
The decision for which type of adoption you choose is final, so be sure to give it careful consideration before you make your choice.
5. Giving Your Baby Over to the Adoptive Family
Once you have selected the family you feel comfortable with, your adoption coordinator will help you sign the Consent to Adoption form, which is the final step in the post-birth adoption process. Your baby will leave the hospital with its new family, eliminating the need for foster care.
Remember, even though you are saying goodbye to your baby, you have done a great thing by bringing joy not only to the world in the form of your child, but also by bringing joy to its new parents, who often have been waiting for somebody like you to give them such a gift.
How Can ABSA Help?
A Baby Step Adoption is here for you at every stage of the adoption process – whether you are about to give birth or have recently given birth. We are a full legal service and adoption agency that can guide you through the whole process, helping you make the decisions that are best for you and your future.
Get in touch with us today if you have any questions, or are interested in charting the best path forward for your future!