As you are beginning the adoption process, your agency should discuss with you whether or not you feel comfortable with doing a direct placement or at-risk placement or whether you would rather use interim care for the baby until the Birthparents no longer have legal rights to the child.  Even if you are doing an independent adoption, this is still something that you need to discuss before being put in the position of having to consider whether or not to do an at-risk placement.

A direct placement occurs when a baby is discharged from the hospital and goes home with you even though one or both of the Birthparents still have their parental/legal rights intact.  It is called an at-risk placement because you are taking the child home with the risk that a Birthparent could change their mind and decide to parent which is a right they have because they still have their legal rights.

This is a hard decision to make because you want to have your child from the beginning, but the thought of having them a short period of time and then losing them is almost too hard to even imagine.  When considering a direct placement, you should keep the line of communication wide open with your agency and get their opinion on the situation.  Although they can’t tell you they are 100% sure of anything, they can let you know what they feel comfortable or uncomfortable with surrounding the situation.

A majority of Birthparents want to do a direct placement.  I have also found that many adoptive parents opt for a direct placement as well.  It is something that you should discuss with the Birthparents when making hospital and placement plans.

As an agency, we mostly do direct placements.  However, we also have interim care/cradle care families that will care for the baby when they are released from the hospital until the Birthparents have signed a surrender or waiver.  We also use our interim care families as a safety net for everyone involved in the process.

For instance, if we are working with a Birthmother who is having a hard time in the hospital, we will suggest doing interim care to them and to the adoptive family.  This gives the Birthparents some time to get home from the hospital and take some time to decide whether or not they want to do adoption without having the pressure of the baby already being with the adoptive family and not wanting to hurt them.  It is also a safeguard for the adoptive family as they do not have the baby in their home for an extended period of time while they are worried about whether or not the baby is going to stay with them or go back to the Birthmother.  During the interim care time, the Birthmother and the adoptive family can visit with the baby if they choose.

It is a good idea to discuss the interim care policy of the agency you are using ahead of time.  You want to feel that the agency is going to stay involved and give you their honest assessment of the situation.  You want to be sure that they are not going to pressure you into a direct placement if they feel like a Birthmother is having a hard time and you want to be sure that they are not going to pressure or coerce the Birthparents in anyway.

In the end, the decision as to whether or not to do a direct placement is really up to you and the Birthparents.  It is good to keep your communication open with them so that you can discuss interim care if any situations or feelings change.  You have to weigh the risks in the situation and make the best decision for your family.

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 12th, 2006 at 5:43 am and is filed under Adoption. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.