Adopting a child is a huge decision, and it’s one that you have to make for all of the right reasons. It’s not just your life that changes forever, but the child’s as well.
For instance, some people adopt because they simply feel guilty. Maybe they took in a foster child, and that child could never get placed back with his or her own parents. They then decided to adopt to give the child a permanent home, even though they didn’t really want to do so, because they felt guilty to tell the child they didn’t want to adopt.
Others adopt because they feel outside pressure. Maybe it’s a spouse pressuring them into starting a family. Maybe it’s friends or family members who think a couple “should” be at that stage in their lives. No matter what, this is a decision everyone has to make for themselves, not because of what anyone else wants.
This is not to try to talk you out of adoption. Adoption can be a wonderful thing. You may get a child you could never have naturally. You get to give a child a home to live in and a parent that loves them. There’s nothing wrong with adoption at all. You just have to understand the stakes and know that you are doing it for all of the right reasons.
If you are, then the next step is to look into all of your legal options. The adoption process can be both complex and expensive. You need to know where you stand, how to navigate the system and how to make things go as smoothly as possible.