What Happens to My Baby after Adoption in Vermont?
Your baby will be placed directly into the loving arms of the adoptive family you chose—never into foster care, never with strangers you haven't met. From the moment you consent to adoption in Vermont, your child begins a life filled with the stability, resources, and love you wanted for them. That future starts with the careful planning you do today.
Schedule a consultation today to get answers about what happens to my baby after adoption and feel confident in every step ahead.
Below, you'll find detailed information about what happens to your baby after adoption in Vermont—from the hospital handoff to legal finalization to the ongoing relationship you can maintain through open adoption.
What Happens to My Baby after Adoption in Vermont?
Understanding what happens to your baby after adoption starts with knowing the timeline.
After delivery, you'll have the opportunity to spend time with your baby according to your wishes. Some birth mothers choose to hold their baby, feed them, and create precious memories.
Others prefer the adoptive family to be the primary caregivers from birth. Your adoption hospital experience is entirely your choice.
When you're ready, you'll place your baby directly into the care of the adoptive family you selected. This is not a handoff to an agency worker—your baby goes home with the family you chose.
In Vermont, you'll sign consent to adoption paperwork after a required 36-hour waiting period following birth.
Once signed, Vermont has no revocation period—your consent is final. The adoptive family will then file a petition with the Vermont Family Court to finalize the adoption. This legal process typically takes several months.
Termination of your parental rights occurs as part of this finalization, transferring all legal rights to the adoptive parents.
Throughout this time, your baby remains in the continuous care of their adoptive family.
Who Takes Care of My Baby After Adoption Consent?
One of the most persistent myths about adoption is that babies enter foster care before being placed with adoptive families. This is absolutely not true when you work with American Adoptions.
Your baby will never go to foster care during this process. From the moment you place your baby, they are cared for by the adoptive family you selected—the same family who will raise them permanently.
Foster care is a completely separate system designed for children removed from unsafe situations by the state. Private infant adoption is an entirely different path—one where you maintain control over who raises your child.
How Adoptive Families Are Screened and Approved Before Adoption
Before any family can adopt through American Adoptions, they must pass our rigorous screening process. When you're finding an adoptive family, you're choosing from only the most qualified, prepared parents.
Every adoptive family completes a comprehensive home study where a licensed social worker conducts in-depth interviews, home visits, and background checks. They evaluate the family's:
Both prospective adoptive parents undergo criminal background checks at state and federal levels, child abuse and neglect registry clearances, reference checks, and medical examinations to confirm good health.
Families complete required training on infant care and child development, the unique needs of adopted children, how to honor birth families and maintain open adoption relationships, and cultural sensitivity and diversity awareness.
By the time you're reviewing family profiles in Vermont, every single family has already passed all these requirements.
Adoption Finalization and Parental Rights in Vermont
The legal process of finalizing an adoption in Vermont typically takes three to six months after placement.
Once you sign consent to adoption (which can occur 36 hours after birth), the adoptive parents' attorney will file a petition for adoption with the Vermont Family Court. The court will schedule a hearing, usually several months later.
During this period, your baby lives with and is cared for by the adoptive family. The adoptive family's home study agency may conduct post-placement visits to ensure everything is going well.
At the finalization hearing, a Vermont Family Court judge will review all adoption documents and consents, ensure all legal requirements have been met, confirm that the adoption is in the child's best interest, and issue a final decree of adoption.
Once the judge signs the decree, the adoption is complete. Your baby legally becomes the child of the adoptive parents, with all the same rights as if born to them.
It's important to understand that once you sign consent in Vermont, you cannot revoke it. Vermont law does not provide a revocation period after consent is given.
However, your decision to pursue adoption itself remains entirely yours until you sign that consent. Take the time you need to be absolutely certain.
Want to Stay in Touch? How Open Adoption Works
The question of what happens to your baby after adoption doesn't end at placement—for most birth mothers today, adoption means an ongoing relationship with your child and their family.
Open adoption statistics show that more than 95% of modern adoptions include some level of contact between birth families and adoptive families. This isn't a legal requirement in Vermont, but rather a personal arrangement you create with the family you choose.
The level of contact in open adoption varies widely based on what both you and the adoptive family are comfortable with.
Common arrangements include receiving photos and letters about your child's milestones;
When you review adoptive family profiles with American Adoptions, you'll see each family's preferences for openness. This allows you to choose a family whose vision for contact aligns with yours.
Life After Adoption: What Support Is Available for Birth Parents?
Your relationship with American Adoptions doesn't end when you place your baby. We understand that the weeks and months after adoption can bring complex emotions, and we're here to support you through all of it.
Post-adoption counseling is available to you for as long as you need it—not just for a few weeks, but for years after placement. Our counselors specialize in adoption-related grief, adjustment, and healing. They understand what you're going through because they work exclusively with birth parents.
In Vermont, birth mother expenses can be paid for up to six weeks after delivery.
This means that even after placement, you continue receiving help with rent or mortgage payments, utilities and phone bills, groceries and household necessities, transportation costs, and maternity clothes and other pregnancy-related needs.
If questions or concerns arise in your open adoption relationship, we can help facilitate communication between you and the adoptive family. Your adoption specialist can mediate these conversations to ensure everyone's needs are heard and the relationship stays healthy.
How American Adoptions Supports You Before, During, and After Adoption
Wondering what makes American Adoptions different for birth mothers in Vermont? It's our comprehensive support system that serves you at every stage of your adoption journey.
From your first call, you're assigned a dedicated adoption specialist who answers all your questions about the adoption process, helps you understand Vermont adoption laws, provides emotional support as you make your decision, assists you in creating your adoption plan, shows you profiles of waiting families, coordinates hospital arrangements according to your wishes, and ensures all your pregnancy-related expenses are covered.
Your adoption specialist stays by your side during the most critical moments:
- Attending the hospital with you if you wish
- Ensuring the hospital staff respects your wishes
- Facilitating the meeting between you and the adoptive family
- Coordinating the legal paperwork process
- Being available 24/7 if you need support
Our commitment extends long after you leave the hospital with continued counseling, financial assistance for up to six weeks postpartum, mediation of open adoption communications, support navigating your emotions and adjustment, and lifetime access to adoption specialists who know your story.
As a national adoption agency, we serve birth mothers across the country, including Vermont. This gives you access to a larger pool of waiting families, shorter wait times between deciding on adoption and finding a family, a team that has facilitated thousands of adoptions and understands Vermont adoption law, and everything you need—counseling, financial support, legal guidance—all in one place.
Ready to Learn More About Adoption? Connect with American Adoptions Today
Now you know what happens to your baby after adoption in Vermont—from the moment of placement through finalization and beyond.
The choice ahead of you is significant, but you don't have to make it without support. Our team is here to answer your questions, ease your concerns, and help you create the best possible future for your baby.
Whether you're still exploring your options or you're ready to move forward with an adoption plan, we're here for you. Contact us today to start the conversation.
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