We often see fathers (and men who long to be dads) as the unemotional, strong members of the family who represent a different perspective than their counterparts. But it's important to celebrate these men as fathers and to encourage those who are becoming fathers through adoption. 

If we take the time to see adoption from a hopeful adoptive dad's point of view, we can understand that they'll need just as much support on their journey as a hopeful mom.

Today, we address a question from a hopeful adoptive mom who is concerned that she won't have support from her family during the adoption journey:

"My husband and I are so excited to adopt! We've always known that we wanted to adopt a baby.  But, our parents and grandparents don't seem to understand why we'd want an open adoption.

Yesterday, my dad asked me why we want the birth family to remain in our lives. And my grandma has made it clear that she looks down on birth mothers; she doesn't think they should be able to choose their baby's parents.

How can we get the support of our families during the adoption process? I'm worried about the impact that their negative views of open adoption will have on our future child!"

When adoptive couples come to Lifetime, most are coming from their own journey of months or years of already waiting—waiting through miscarriage, waiting through infertility, waiting, and waiting to be picked by a birth mother. So it makes sense that one of the most-asked questions hopeful parents have when they hear our Adoption Story webinars is "How long did you wait to adopt?"

When it comes to infant adoption, the wait is usually a focus, and at times a challenge, for hopeful adoptive parents.

Lifetime recently welcomed a special webinar guest, Carly, who shares her story about praying to become a mother, moving past years of fertility treatments, and welcoming her son home through open adoption. She describes how she started to see how every step of her story, including the wait, was a significant part of the journey and prepared her for what was to come. As Carly shares, "There's purpose in the wait."

So often on this blog, we share adoption tips about what to do in the process. But since there are many opportunities for hitches along the way, today we're going to share about what NOT to do in adoption, and things to be aware of.

The adoption pointers we provide below may seem like common sense, but they come from Lifetime’s years of experience working with adoptive parents and birth mothers. All of the situations we share are ones we've experienced.

Lifetime wants to make sure that you’re prepared and equipped with accurate information of what not to do. By becoming informed, you can focus on doing the right things to really ensure a safe and successful adoption!

3 things to avoid doing immediately if you want to adopt successfully:

The Saturday before Mother's Day has been traditionally honored as Birth Mother's Day throughout the US. While we think it's totally appropriate to celebrate birth mothers all weekend long, we're taking today to highlight the amazing, brave, loving women behind each adoption story.

One of the most common questions future adoptive parents have to work through, for themselves, is this:

"What would it be like to raise a child who also had another family that loved him first?"

A child's birth mother will always be a special part of his or her story. As most of Lifetime's adoptive parents share, once you get to know the ONE birth mother who has chosen you to become her baby's family, the natural progression is to grow a deep love and care for that amazing woman who made your adoption dreams come true.

So this Mother's Day weekend, as you recognize your own adoption miracle, or pray for the next step in your adoption goals, take a moment to celebrate the brave love that threads between all birth mothers. Here are a few ways you can honor birth mothers today:

Mother’s Day isn’t easy without a child to hold and hug, when more than anything, you want that. It's so hard to have that longing, and not have something that so many other women are experiencing - motherhood. Not having a child can make the second Sunday in May so much more difficult.

If Mother’s Day brings feelings of pain or longing for you, know that you're not alone. Lifetime's Founder Mardie Caldwell is an adoptive mother herself, and shares, "A lot of the time on Mother's Day, I just wanted to curl up in bed and forget the whole day because it can be really painful."

It's hard to wait when you're SO ready to be a mom. Right now, God might be saying, “Not yet. Wait.” While you have no idea what's in store, He does! His plan is more considerable than anything you can envision.

Hand-Lettered Artwork to Benefit Lifetime Foundation

Here at Lifetime, many of our staff have volunteered their personal time, donations, and talents to help the Lifetime Adoption Foundation serve birth mothers. This week our own Libby Denniston launched a project in her Etsy shop that combines her passion for modern calligraphy with the work we do through the Lifetime Foundation. Many of Lifetime’s followers will recognize Libby as a regular webinar hostess, but behind the scenes she also does a lot of our design for outreach and adoptive parent profiles, among other things.

In honor of Mother's Day this month, Libby hand lettered a verse from Psalm 9, and the proceeds from the sales of this art print will go to helping birth mothers through the Lifetime Adoption Foundation!

An adoption support group can be a wonderful resource for hopeful parents in any stage of their adoption journey! You might have just begun to research domestic adoption or you may be waiting for a birth mother to choose you. You might even have finalized your child’s adoption, and need help navigating adoptive parenting.

No matter which stage you're at in the adoption process, an adoption support group can provide encouragement! Members of an adoption support group are able to learn about and explore issues they may have in common. They also have group discussions that give members the chance to share problem-solving strategies.

These groups are a great place to connect with other adoptive families, share experiences, and ask questions. You might find an adoption support group within driving distance, but there are also many groups that take place entirely online. Keep reading to discover the benefits an adoption support group can offer you, as well as how you might find one!

We're excited to announce that Lifetime's blog has just been awarded in Healthline's Best Adoption Blogs of 2019! It's an honor to be among this list of other awesome adoption blogs. Lifetime's adoption blog was selected from the thousands of adoption blogs out there using search and social metrics. 

We hope you are looking forward to a beautiful Easter celebration this weekend. He is RISEN indeed!

Easter is a precious time to reflect on the great love that our God and Savior have for us. Through our faith we see just how important adoption is to our Heavenly Father: He chose us to be heirs in His Kingdom! What a family He's creating through adoption in Christ!

Did you know the Hebrew word for adoption means "to place” into a new family? It's intentional, it's permanent, and it's a choice. Adoption was something God PLANNED, as we see in Ephesians 1:5, which reads "God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ..."

The word "decided" stands out. Adoption is a choice made out of great love for a child.
Adoption is love.