Pregnant?

Family & Children’s Agency is a private, non-profit human service agency with more than 75 years of experience in serving the needs of children & families, youth, adults, and seniors through various programs and services. We provide services to birth parents considering adoption, couples or singles seeking to adopt, and supportive counseling for families formed by adoption. Our adoptive families and children span all races and religions.

Family & Children’s Agency believes in a caring approach that is concerned with the needs and rights of all parties involved as we work to create safe and permanent plans for children. We view adoption as a lifelong process where we work to support all members of the adoption triad – birth parents, adoptive parents, and adoptees.

First, it helps to talk to someone who will be neutral, sympathetic and informative. A birth parent counselor will sit with you and go over all your options. There is no charge for this counseling. Our birth parent counselors may help you find some resources or support that you had not thought of. Coming to Family & Children’s Agency does not mean you have to plan an adoption. We want you to take the time to find the best solution for your own situation. If you do decide to make an adoption plan, we will help you obtain the resources you need, such as housing, medical care and financial assistance. However, the choices are always yours. You do not need to commit to an adoption plan to make use of Family & Children’s Agency birth parent counseling services. You can count on your birth parent counselor to explain everything about adoption clearly.

Absolutely. Besides having the choice of deciding that you may want to raise the baby yourself, you also have the choice of deciding on the kind of adoptive family that feels right to you. You will want to consider their lifestyle, age, race, religion, personalities, interests, and whether there are other children in the family. You can decide whether you want to meet them and how much information you want to share. Some pregnant women who come to Family & Children’s Agency have already made a connection to a family with whom they want to place the baby. In that case, we will help make that adoption happen safely, legally and give the birth parent support along the way. Whatever you decide during the pregnancy, you are in charge of the decision from beginning to end.

Yes. Our birth parent counselors will work with you to help you specify preferences with regard to the religion of the adoptive family, the number of other children in the family, childcare arrangements, geographic location, and contact (if any) between you and the adoptive family. We will then work to find a match with an adoptive family.

A “closed” adoption is one that has no direct contact or exchange of information between the birth parents and the adoptive family. An “open” adoption is one where the names and identifying information of birth parents and adoptive families are disclosed to the other and there is direct contact between the two parties that generally continues after the birth and placement. The terms of the relationship are determined by the participants. Seldom is an adoption either fully “open” or fully “closed”; most fall somewhere between the two. Some involve limited contact, either in person or by phone, exchange of photographs following placement, etc. There is no “right” adoption plan that meets the needs of all birth parents and adoptive families. The goal of Family & Children’s Agency is to create the plan that works best for all parties involved in each adoption and give the birth parents support throughout the process. FCA works to support birth parents and adoptive parents as they navigate their post-adoption relationship over the years.

If you have insurance or are entitled to a government subsidy, we will help you make those arrangements to ensure your bills are covered, whether you decide to place the baby in adoption or not. If you do not have your own medical resources and adoption is your plan, the agency can pay the obstetrical and hospital costs.

According to Connecticut law, the adopting family, through FCA, can provide some financial help.

If you like, we will let the hospital know you are considering adoption. The hospital social workers and nurses can work out what would be the most comfortable plan for you regarding seeing and holding the baby, having visitors, etc. You may, after giving birth, decide that you don’t want to place the baby for adoption. In any case, your birth parent counselor will come to see you and help you sort out your plans and discuss your feelings.

Remember that you have choices. You may want some more time to think about your decision. You may decide to have the baby stay with one of our interim care families until you are absolutely certain that you are ready to relinquish your parental rights. Or, if you and the adoptive parents are really clear on your decision, you may want to place the baby with the adoptive parents from the hospital. Whatever you decide, our birth parent counselors will be there to help.

The baby remains legally yours until the papers you have signed are reviewed by a judge in Probate Court. This can take six to eight weeks. Your parental rights are not terminated until the day of a hearing set by the court. You will be required to attend the court hearing where a judge will ask you to affirm the plan you have made for the child. Your birth parent counselor will attend the court hearing with you. Lawyers are not needed for this process, but if you or your family would be more comfortable, you could, of course, have legal representation.

All birth fathers will be offered counseling by one of our birth parent counselors. The law clearly requires that the birth father be notified of your plan to place the child for adoption. The birth father’s rights must be terminated in order for the child to be adopted. It is very important for a child to have as much genetic information on both parents as possible.

All our adoption work is absolutely confidential. You may decide for yourself who you want to tell. However, if you are under 18, we must talk with your parents. In all other cases we will respect your wishes regarding who you want to share your plan with.

Coming to terms with your feelings about adoption is an important personal process. You may want to continue counseling with your birth parent counselor for a while. You may want to receive letters and pictures of the baby from time to time. You may want to have annual visits with your child. You will work with your birth parent counselor and the adoptive parents to create a post-adoption contact agreement after the baby is born, which outlines when and how contact between all parties will take place.