What Nurses Can Do for a Patient Choosing Adoption

Know Your Hospital's Adoption Policy and Your Role

Hospital adoption policies help guide nursing care, communication and coordination when a patient is considering adoption. Familiarizing yourself with your hospital's procedures can help you provide consistent, supportive care throughout her stay.

An established hospital adoption policy may outline how to communicate patient preferences, coordinate with other staff and handle adoption-related situations.

When questions arise outside your nursing responsibilities, such as adoption planning, legal procedures or counseling, your hospital's social work team or an adoption specialist can provide additional guidance.

Respect the Patient's Wishes and Adoption Plan

An expectant mother considering adoption may work with an adoption specialist to create an adoption plan that outlines her preferences for the adoption process and hospital stay. This plan can help nurses understand her wishes regarding:

• Labor and Delivery: Who she wants present during delivery, her preferences for pain management and other aspects of her birth experience
• Time With Her Baby: Whether she wants to hold, feed or spend time with her baby during her hospital stay
• Adoptive Family Involvement: Whether she wants the prospective adoptive family present during delivery or involved in other parts of her hospital experience

While this plan provides helpful guidance, your patient's preferences may change during labor or after delivery. Remaining flexible and checking in with her can help ensure her current wishes are respected.

Your patient also retains the right to reconsider adoption before providing legally valid consent. Regardless of her decision, she should continue receiving compassionate, supportive medical care.

Support Your Patient Emotionally

Considering adoption can bring a range of emotions, and every patient may experience the decision differently. Providing a compassionate, nonjudgmental environment can help her feel comfortable expressing her feelings and discussing her needs.

Avoid making assumptions about her feelings or whether she will ultimately choose adoption. If she needs additional emotional support, you can offer to connect her with an adoption specialist who can provide counseling and help her explore her options.

Use Respectful Adoption Language

The words used when discussing adoption can influence how comfortable a patient feels sharing her thoughts and preferences. Using positive adoption language helps create a respectful, supportive environment without making assumptions about her decision.

When speaking with a patient considering adoption, keep these language distinctions in mind:

• Choosing Adoption vs. Giving Up: Use phrases like "choosing adoption," "making an adoption plan" or "placing a baby for adoption" instead of "giving up a baby," which can carry negative implications.
• Parenting vs. Keeping the Baby: Refer to the decision to raise her child as "parenting" rather than "keeping the baby," which can suggest that adoption means giving her child away.
• Mother, Expectant Parent and Birth Parent: A woman considering adoption is still her child's mother. "Expectant parent" is appropriate during pregnancy, while "birth parent" is generally used after placement. Follow your patient's preferred terminology whenever possible.

Thoughtful language helps nurses communicate with patients in a way that respects their choices, regardless of whether they ultimately move forward with adoption.

Keep the Care Team Aligned With the Patient's Wishes

Throughout her hospital stay, your patient may receive care from several nurses, physicians and social workers. Clear communication among relevant staff can help ensure everyone understands her current adoption and hospital preferences.

Using hospital-approved communication practices, nurses can share relevant details about the patient's wishes, including her preferences for time with her baby and involvement with the prospective adoptive family. This helps maintain continuity of care while respecting patient privacy.

Since your patient's preferences may change during her stay, keeping the appropriate team members informed of any updates can help ensure her care continues to reflect her current wishes.

Know Your Patient's Rights and When to Ask for Help

Patients considering adoption have the right to make informed decisions about their care and adoption plans. While nurses can help support those decisions, they aren't expected to interpret adoption laws or provide legal advice.

Certain situations may require additional guidance from hospital social workers, adoption specialists or legal professionals, including:

• Family Disagreements: Family members may have different opinions about a patient's adoption decision. Nurses can respect the patient's wishes while referring questions about parental rights or legal authority to qualified professionals.
• Patients Who Are Minors: A minor may be able to choose adoption, but consent requirements vary by state. An adoption specialist or attorney can help clarify the applicable laws and any necessary involvement from a parent or guardian.
• Birth Father Rights: Questions about a birth father's involvement or legal rights should be directed to an adoption specialist or attorney. Hospital staff can follow established visitation and safety policies while respecting the patient's preferences.

Have Agency Referrals Ready

A patient may express interest in adoption for the first time during her hospital stay, have questions about her options or already be working with American Adoptions. In any of these situations, nurses can offer to connect her with an adoption specialist for additional guidance and support.

American Adoptions provides several resources to help patients and hospital staff navigate adoption-related needs:

• 24/7 Adoption Support: Our adoption specialists are available around the clock to answer questions, provide counseling and assist patients considering adoption, even after delivery.
• Personalized Adoption Planning: Specialists help patients explore their options, create an adoption plan that reflects their wishes and coordinate adoption-related details with hospital staff when needed.
• Access to Screened Adoptive Families: Our national network of adoptive families gives expectant mothers more opportunities to find a family that aligns with their preferences for their child.

Whether your patient is considering adoption at the hospital or needs help coordinating an existing plan, American Adoptions can provide professional support while your team focuses on her medical care.

Get Adoption Support for Your Patient When She Needs It

American Adoptions can handle adoption-specific questions, planning and coordination, allowing your team to focus on your patient's health and well-being.

When your patient expresses interest in adoption or your team needs guidance on the next steps, call 1-800-ADOPTION to speak with an adoption specialist. Our team is available 24/7 to answer questions, provide immediate support and help your patient explore her options without pressure.

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