Adoption Placements

March 04, 2014 • Leave a Comment

I have recently started offering a new session type - adoption placements. You may already know (or have had no idea) but adoption is a cause close to my heart. Back in my past life as a social worker I worked with birth parents at an adoption agency. It was my tremendous honor to help these young women (and sometimes men) to create an adoption plan for their children. If your unfamiliar with the world of domestic adoptions, birth parents typically get to choose the adoptive parents for their child. Sometimes they meet and have contact before the baby is born and sometimes this contact continues in some form after the child goes home with the adoptive family.

The actual day that the baby goes home with the adoptive family is called "placement". Sometimes this happens at a hospital or another location. The agency that I worked for (and who facilitated the sessions featured) often holds placements in a special room in their building. This is typically a time for birth and adoptive families to get together, visit, and express their love and gratitude for each other. At the end the adoptive family leaves with the baby and the birth family says their goodbyes. I know what your thinking - intense, and your right. It is.

Placements are one of the most wonderful, sad, joyous, heart-wrenching, faith-restoring, things you can witness. It is literally the birth of a family. It is also a bittersweet goodbye and the completion of an astoundingly selfless act. To witness one is to witness love at its finest.

I have done several of these sessions now, and as you can imagine they are intensely personal and private. I want to thank the two families who allowed me to share some of their images here. I also want to note that while one of the birth mothers involved in these placements opted not to have her image shared, (a decision I totally understand and respect) she was there and participated fully in the placement of her twin boys with their new parents. Even though she is not shown here we did get some wonderful images of her with the babies and the adoptive family that I hope will be a gift to them all in the future. Both of the birth mothers in these placements are incredibly strong and selfless women. Although I know on many levels these images may be bittersweet for them I hope they are proud of the decision they have made and the families they have helped to build.

Birth mother and birth grandmother visiting with baby before going to meet the adoptive parents, these are a few of their last moments alone.