Adoption Policy at your hospital

[Tiki_Torch]

Hi,

We are trying to update our hospital's policy concerning birth and adoptive parents when a baby is being adopted.

We have all the legal things worked out pretty well, but we are wondering how other hospitals do certain things such as when the adoptive parents come to visit and want to come to the nursery to feed and spend time with the baby (with the birth mom's agreement first, of course). Do you do double arm bands with a set for the birth family and a set for the adoptive family? We are just really wondering if you allow the adoptive family to get the baby from the nursery without the birth mother having to come to the nursery with them. How do you identify the adoptive parents? Also, do you let the adoptive family take the little one to an empty patient room to spend time together feeding and beginning bonding, etc?

We understand that the birth mother has complete legal custody and that it would be best for her and the adoptive family have their plans made and agreed to before the baby is born... We are just wondering how other hospitals are able to compassionately help the adoptive family with their initial bonding while being compassionate to the birth mother's needs and desires as well.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions you have!

Tiki

[Gompers, BSN, RN]

In our NICU, usually it's not a problem because the birth mother usually stops coming to visit once the adoption papers are in order. But in an OB unit I can see the difference.

We've always just left the old armband on the baby's bed, and placed a second one there that matches the adoptive parents' bands. So I suppose it's double-banding. If there is paperwork drawn up, then we can let the adoptive parents in without the birthmother there. We of course encourage them to visit often, because we need to do discharge teaching and all that. They can't go to a separate room with the baby, but they can visit for as long as they like and take part in the baby's care as much as possible.

[Tiki_Torch]

Thanks Gompers!

Very good information from you, as always!

The policy we are revising will also be in use for the Mother-Baby unit as well as our NICU babies; I'm hoping some OB nurses will be able to share some of their insight too.

Thanks again Gompers, you're the best!!

Tiki

[Jolie, BSN]

Where I worked, we didn't band the adoptive parents, as they had no more legal standing than any other visitors. The birth mother could walk to the nursery holding area with the adoptive parents and request that they be allowed a private visit, or she could have the baby brought to her room, and then request a private place for the new family to bond. Our birth mothers did not sign papers relinquishing (sp?) their infants until DC, so we couldn't offer "special" privileges to the adoptive parents during the hospital stay. We had a few moms change their minds at the last minute, so I think our policy was a sound one.

[fergus51]

Our families usually have the legal stuff all done so we band the adoptive parents just like we would a "signifigant other" when there is no biological father involved. They have every right to see, hold, feed, etc. We take their pictures on admission as we do the biological mothers and put in in the chart so with that and the bands we can identify them.

[BittyBabyGrower, MSN, RN]

If the adoptive parents have full custody, then the birthmom isn't allowed in. If the paperwork isn't complete, then she can come in.