If you are considering adoption, choosing the people who may raise your child can feel like one of the biggest decisions in the entire process. You may wonder who adoptive families are, why they want to adopt, what their homes are like, or how you could possibly know which family is right for your baby.
There is no single picture of an adoptive family in Alaska. Families come to adoption with different backgrounds, experiences, cultures, traditions, and reasons for wanting to become parents. At Alaska Adoption Services, expectant mothers have the opportunity to learn about waiting families and decide for themselves who they would like to get to know.
Who Can Become an Adoptive Family?
People pursue adoption for many different reasons. Some couples have experienced infertility or pregnancy loss and turn to adoption after realizing that growing their family biologically may not be possible. Others may be able to have biological children but have always felt called to adoption.
An adoptive family may already have children at home and want to expand their family. Others are hoping to become parents for the first time. Families may include military members stationed in Alaska, same-sex couples, single parents, interracial or multicultural families, and people with different religious, professional, and socioeconomic backgrounds.
Alaska Adoption Services welcomes prospective adoptive parents who meet its program requirements, including married couples and single applicants. Applicants for the domestic infant program must live in Alaska and complete the agency's required education, application, background checks, and home study process.
What connects these families is not one particular family structure. They are people who have made an intentional decision to pursue adoption and are prepared to take on the responsibilities that come with it.
Who Are the Waiting Families at Alaska Adoption Services?
Alaska Adoption Services intentionally maintains a smaller group of approximately 15 active waiting families rather than hundreds of prospective families. This allows our agency to know its families personally and provide ongoing education and support throughout the adoption process.
The current waiting families reflect the variety that exists among adoptive parents in Alaska. There are couples with different interests, careers, family structures, backgrounds, and life experiences. Some already have children, while others hope adoption will make them parents for the first time.
Their family profiles are designed to help you learn more than their names and photographs. You can discover what they enjoy doing, where they live, what matters to them, how they spend time together, and what they envision for their future family.
You can view the current waiting families at Alaska Adoption Services and begin getting a sense of the different families hoping to adopt.
Adoptive Families Are Carefully Screened
A family cannot simply decide they want to adopt a baby and be added to the waiting list.
Prospective adoptive families must complete a thorough home study. The process examines the members of the household, their home environment, finances, physical and mental health history, and readiness to adopt. It also includes fingerprinting and background checks. Families complete adoption education before becoming an approved waiting family.
This process is meant to determine whether a prospective family can provide a safe, stable home and is prepared for adoption. Screening, however, does not make the decision for you. A family can meet every requirement and still not feel like the right family for your child. That choice remains deeply personal.
You Get to Decide What Matters to You
Different expectant mothers look for different things in an adoptive family. You may want your child to grow up with siblings. Perhaps you would prefer a family without other children. Religion might be important to you, or you may care more about education, outdoor activities, cultural traditions, extended family, pets, where the family lives, or the kind of community your child will grow up in.
Living in Alaska may create additional considerations. You might want your child to remain in the state, grow up experiencing Alaska's outdoors and communities, or maintain important cultural and family connections.
There is no checklist telling you what should matter most. Your priorities can be different from another expectant mother's priorities.
You Can Meet a Family Before Choosing Them
A profile can help you identify a family you are interested in, but you do not have to make such an important decision based only on pictures and a written introduction.
If you find a family you would like to know better, Alaska Adoption Services can arrange an opportunity to talk by phone, meet through video conferencing, or get together in person. You can ask questions and learn more about their personalities, parenting ideas, lives, and hopes for adoption.
You can also talk about open adoption and what an ongoing relationship might look like. Since Alaska Adoption Services practices open adoption, prospective adoptive parents receive education about the importance of birth families and future connections.
Getting to know a family can help you decide whether the connection you felt while reading their profile carries over into a real conversation.
Choosing an Adoptive Family Is Your Decision
An adoption agency does not choose your baby's family for you. If you decide to make an adoption plan with us, you have the opportunity to review waiting families and choose the prospective adoptive family you believe is the best fit.
You also do not need to know immediately what your ideal family looks like. Sometimes an expectant mother begins the process convinced that one quality matters most and later connects with a family she did not expect.
The goal is not to find a "perfect" family. No family is perfect. Instead, you are looking for people whose life, values, personalities, and hopes for the future feel right to you.
If you are pregnant whether unplanned pregnancy or planned and considering adoption in Alaska, you can begin by simply learning about the families who are waiting. Alaska Adoption Services can answer your questions, show you family profiles, and help you explore what qualities are important to you without requiring you to make an adoption decision.