For Pregnancy Counselors and Teachers

planadoption.com - for those facing unplanned pregnancy

Getting Started

How can you learn more about AAI for clients or students who might be asking about adoption?

  • Check out our main web site

  • Call to speak with a caseworker; toll free numbers are available for all offices
    Jenison: 800.677.2367
    Lansing: 877.869.4196
    Saginaw: 989.497.KIDS
    Farmington Hills: 877.257.3591
    Detroit: 313.393.3040

  • Email the agency with your questions
    Jenison: adopt@adoptassoc.com
    Lansing: lansing@adoptassoc.com
    Saginaw: saginaw@adoptassoc.com
    Farmington Hills: fhaai@adoptassoc.com
    Detroit: clayfield@adoptassoc.com

  • Request an info packet, agency materials, and videos to educate yourself and have on hand to distribute to students

  • Schedule a speaker from the agency for your school, group, or church to talk to students about adoption

  • Schedule a speaker from the agency for your organization who can educate teachers, volunteers, nurses, and staff about adoption

  • Read current and accurate information about adoption so that you can be fully informed

How can I help a pregnant client or student consider adoption?

  • Call us. We can help!

  • You can start by simply providing accurate information about adoption so that she can begin to learn what adoption really is, and have positive and accurate information available to her as she begins to consider adoption.

  • Do not be afraid to present adoption as an alternative to someone who has not voiced that possibility yet; adoption is a voluntary plan, but many young women do not have accurate and realistic information available to them, or they may be embarrassed, too afraid, or too influenced by negative peer misconceptions of adoption to even ask questions.

  • Provide her with resources from the agency—written materials, information packets, booklets, videos, etc. that can provide her with a better understanding and a more positive perspective on adoption so she can make a knowledgeable choice.

Why adoption?

Accurate information and facts about adoption are not always part of everyday knowledge for most people. As a professional working with young women looking at options, it is very important for you to be knowledgeable and informed. Less than 2% of single women choose adoption, so many people misunderstand the reasons for choosing to make an adoption plan. Some birth parents choose adoption because they believe in the sanctity of life and are opposed to abortion. Some realize that they are too young or feel they lack the maturity to be good parents at this time. Many recognize the overwhelming responsibility of raising a child and do not feel prepared to parent at all, or maybe to parent another child. Some are trying to complete their education or are working and are not able to spend the time they know is necessary to provide for the child’s needs, so they are seeking a stable, two parent family to ensure the best possible start in life for their baby.

How do I talk to a client/student about adoption?

  • Provide positive and accurate information from additional resources in addition to agency materials.

  • Help her see that by choosing adoption, she is making a good plan for the future of her baby, that she is not a failure for considering adoption; realizing that planning adoption IS a positive way of accepting responsibility as a mother to this child.

  • Debunk the negative stereotypes and myths about adoption.

  • Realize that the shame of being pregnant and the fear of judgment by others often forces the young woman to consider abortion as a means of keeping her unplanned pregnancy a secret.

  • Educate her on the abundance of wonderful adoptive parents available for her selection who can provide a permanent and stable home for the child. This family will teach the child about her loving, caring, and selfless decision, and help the child feel good about his or her adoption and positive about his or her birth parents.

  • Help her see that choosing adoption can help her to regain control of her life, emotionally and/or financially, especially if she has other children for whom she is currently caring.

  • Answer her questions about openness, meeting adoptive parents, and the exchange of pictures and letters.

  • Encourage her to call the agency for more information or to make an appointment with a caseworker who can assist her in gathering accurate information.

  • Provide her with information and exercises on decision making that she can apply to her unplanned pregnancy decision.

  • Provide her with information on the challenges of parenting, including the emotional and financial costs.

  • Encourage her to talk with other young women who have been in her situation, both birth mothers who are parenting and those who have planned adoption.

How can a birth mother get information about adoption?

  • AAI has birth mother packets available that she can request or we can provide to you as a resource material to have on hand; call AAI to request info packets at any time, or visit the link on this web site.

  • She can contact AAI through our toll free number, 1.800.677.2367, available 7 days a week, 24 hours a day.

  • She can schedule an appointment to meet with someone from the agency who will come to her home, the counseling office, or to a convenient location.

  • She can review information available on this web site.

Why should she choose Adoption Associates, Inc.?

  • For 13 years we’ve been placing more babies into loving homes than anyone else in Michigan.

  • We are easy to work with and very client friendly.

  • We will come to her immediately or answer her questions over the phone—whichever she prefers. Our staff are experienced and professional—we will walk her through the process and provide emotional support.

  • We understand that pregnancy is expensive, so in some cases we can help her with living and medical expenses (Not all birth mothers qualify for financial assistance).

  • We want her to feel comfortable about her decision to plan adoption, and we have dozens of excellent adoptive families waiting for her to consider.

  • We offer a birth mother support group where she can speak with other clients who are in the process of making an adoption plan or who may have already completed their placement.

  • We don’t want her to have any added stress, so all legal arrangements are made for her—no attorney is necessary.

  • We’re available by phone 24-hours a day and we’ll go to her ANYWHERE.

  • There are many different options and she can choose the level of openness and contact with the adoptive family that’s right for her.

  • We’re here to make her adoption experience the very best that it can be. Also, adoption is all we do, so we are specialists with years of experience.

Interesting adoption facts—National Council for Adoption

Young women who choose adoption:

  • are less likely to live in poverty

  • are more likely to finish high school

  • have higher educational goals and generally complete some kind of vocational or higher education

  • seldom have to rely on welfare

  • tend to live in higher-income households in the years after the adoption was finalized

  • are more likely to be employed at better paying jobs

  • do not get pregnant again as quickly

  • tend to delay marriage longer

Adoption Associates, Inc. is now offering a one-day Infant Adoption Awareness workshop for health professionals presented by a trained adoption specialist. The workshop is a training program of the National Council for Adoption.

This workshop includes information regarding infant adoption appropriate for nurses, social workers, crisis pregnancy volunteers, guidance counselors, teachers, pastors and clergy, health department staff, DHS/MA, and other helping professionals. Topics covered will include Adoption Knowledge and Attitudes, The Adoption Process, Accurate Adoption Language, and more.

The dates for these work shops are:
* April 28, 2006—Farmington Hills, Michigan
* May 10, 2006—Lansing, Michigan
* September 22, 2006—Ann Arbor, Michigan
* October 19, 2006—Jenison, Michigan
* November 9, 2006—Saginaw, Michigan

Earn CEU credit hours: SW—6 hours, Nurses—7.2 hours

If you have questions or are interested in attending, please call Betsy Zdonek at 616.667.0677.