Some Important Information about Covenant Care Adoptions

A few weeks ago, when we announced that we were putting on hold our adoption from Ethiopia and pursuing a domestic adoption with Covenant Care... I not only blogged about the need for families....but also many of you also blogged about Covenant Care. This is a good thing.....any advertising for a wonderful agency is a great thing...however I did not realize the effect could have on the agency. They have been flooded with calls and inquiries...not necessarily a bad thing...however this does add quite a load on the staff! I feel like I need to go back and clarify some information about adoptions from Covenant Care. I do not want to discourage any one from contacting them, HOWEVER you may want to take note of the following information before you do! (And if you have blogged about Covenant Care..feel free to pass along this info!)

* Covenant Care is a liscensed adoption agencies that works with birthmother placements: this means the birthmother CHOOSES the adoptive family. There is no list or first come first serve....we realize it could be weeks, months or years before we will be chosen. We also realize we do not choose whether we will be adopting a boy or girl. Whichever our birthmother has is who will be our child!

* African American birthmothers PREFER to place their child in African American families, rather than Caucasian families.

* Birthmothers PREFER to place their child in a family which resides in the state of Georgia.

* Most Covenant Care adoptions are semi-open. This means there is a good possibility you will have contact with your birthmother...in many cases this means several visits a year for the first few years of the child's life. Obviously, if you do not live on the state of GA, these visits may be more difficult for you to commit to, which is one of the reasons a birthmother may not choose you.

* Covenant Care only places children in solid Christian homes.

* When you adopt transracially (meaning you and your child do not share the same skin color) you make a verbal commitment to CC that you will adopt another AA child in the future.

*The birthmothers that Covenant Care works with are not making a plan of adoption because they have to. This is not an extension of the foster care system. It is not because they are unfit to parent or are in jail. Theses ladies love their child sooo much that they are making a plan of adoption to ensure that their child is raised in a 2 parent, Christian home. The birthmother is in the drivers seat. If there is not a family on the list that they desire to choose, they do not have to choose one...they can decide to parent. This is one of the aspects that makes this process so different than the international process for us. We realize that this means a birthmother could choose us, and then change her mind. There is the possibility that a child could be placed in our home...and then for various reason, removed. We could technically have our profile shown to birthmothers for years...only to never be chosen. We realize this...yet trust the Lord, His guidance, and His comfort if we experience one of these losses!

I hope this information does not discourage you from contacting Covenant Care...yet hopefully it will help you to weigh out whether this agency is right for your family. I did compile a list of agencies a couple of weeks ago who are in need for families. (You can see that list here.) It seems that thought most agencies do place babies out of state, in general.....your chances of being chosen are much greater if you live within the State you adopt from.

I hope this information answers many of the questions which so many of you have emailed to me over the past few weeks. Some days I feel like the "risks" and potential heartache are greater with a domestic adoption than adopting internationally (thought I am sure many of you could argue otherwise)...yet I am confident of the journey He has called us on. In Hi time, and for His glory!

Blessings to each of you on your day, and please contact me if you have any other questions....I would love to help you and advocate for Covenant Care in any way that I can!