Adoption

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Hi there, I am finishing up my ADN degree with precepting on an O.B. floor. I recently experienced the birth of a baby to a mother who was adopting out. We cared for all parties involved. It was a great experience for me, but it also raised a question in my mind... The mother can decide to keep the baby even after the adoptive parents take the baby home because the adoption is not final until a future court date. I don't feel this is right especially when adopting out is in the best interest of the baby. Are there reasons why an adoption can't be finalized before the baby is born?

I'm just curious how others feel about this??

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A mother can change her mind after the birth. Some people don't realize how much they will feel for the baby until they see him/her. Pregnancy is also a very emotional and hormonal time. I don't really believe it is the best time to be making a life altering decision without knowing how they will feel after the baby is born.

I think adoption is a wonderful thing but I don't believe all situations of young age or little money warrant it. My mom was 15 when she had my sister and my dad was 17. There were people that pressured her to choose adoption. They had all four of us kids by the time my mother was 22. We didn't have fancy things growing up but we were loved and taken care of. Both of my parents worked their tails off to pay for us and never received government assistance.

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Specializes in NICU, ICU, PICU, Academia.

Not trying to be rude, I just don't know how else to express this: It really doesn't matter what you 'feel' about it. A mother's right is her right up until the adoption is finalized. That's the law.

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I would suggest that since your concern has absolutely nothing to do with nursing, but rather legislation, perhaps your questions are best handled on a political forum. As it stands, the laws are there to be observed; if you want to work with a political party on making changes, well.....that's a private issue, not a nursing one.

A nurse's personal opinion has no bearing on her care of a patient, and certainly no bearing on what the patients may do once they leave our care. We can no more involve ourselves in the adoption process than we can insist that mothers not allow certain television programs in their homes. Simply put, it's none of our business.

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Specializes in NICU, PICU, PACU.

It is hard to see the adoptive parents after the mom changes her mind. I have seen this several times. It is the law here in the states.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Ortho, ASC.

Who is to decide "what's in the best interests of the child" as you say? Certainly not a nurse.

If you're interested in the "why" of the waiting period, I would guess it would have something to do with the very real fact that young unmarried women in certain circles used to have their infants forcibly removed and placed for closed adoption. These were women who perhaps were poor, unsupported by the father or their parents, or it could have been the embarrassed parents who placed their pregnant daughters with the agency. See Philomena.

The waiting period allows all involved to make sure that their decision was not made in haste or under coercion.

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Thank you for your responses, this was an assignment for class where I was supposed to get other nurses FEELINGS about the scenario presented. Due to HIPAA laws I couldn't go into further detail which you would need to know to jump to some of the conclusions that were written. I believe this to be a prime example of how great patient care can still be given regardless of some of the details like the adoption process laws that we may disagree with. In any case I just wanted to understand how other people FELT about this law for my class. Thank You and God bless!

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Specializes in Critical Care.

Laws that give the birth mother the right to change her mind for a period of time immediately following birth are common and for good reason. In a voluntary adoption, everyone's goal is make sure the birth mother is in agreement and there is an understandable change in context after giving birth to the child that can often change a mother's mind. So we allow this time period for the birth mother to rescind the offer because no matter how badly adoptive parents may want a I child, I don't think any of them are so inhuman as to want a child that the birth mother wants to keep (assuming there are no legal barriers to the mother keeping the child). If as you say, adoption is "in the best interest of the baby", then there is a whole separate legal process for removing a baby from the care of their birth mother.

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Specializes in SICU, trauma, neuro.

Because it's the birth mother's right to decide. How can one make an informed decision before she even goes through the birth, sees the baby, and knows how she'll feel about it? Besides, you (or me, or any other stranger) don't know at all what's best for the baby--OR for your patient.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Ortho, ASC.
Thank you for your responses, this was an assignment for class where I was supposed to get other nurses FEELINGS about the scenario presented. Due to HIPAA laws I couldn't go into further detail which you would need to know to jump to some of the conclusions that were written. I believe this to be a prime example of how great patient care can still be given regardless of some of the details like the adoption process laws that we may disagree with. In any case I just wanted to understand how other people FELT about this law for my class. Thank You and God bless!

I believe that homework assignments should be clearly labeled as such. I do not believe that your instructor intended for your assignment to be completed by a bunch of online folks who may or may not actually be nurses.

And could you share which provision of HIPAA protects fictional folks?

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Specializes in M/S, LTC, Corrections, PDN & drug rehab.
Thank you for your responses, this was an assignment for class where I was supposed to get other nurses FEELINGS about the scenario presented. Due to HIPAA laws I couldn't go into further detail which you would need to know to jump to some of the conclusions that were written. I believe this to be a prime example of how great patient care can still be given regardless of some of the details like the adoption process laws that we may disagree with. In any case I just wanted to understand how other people FELT about this law for my class. Thank You and God bless!

That is very misleading & dishonest. I'm sure your professor did not want you to post on some public forum where the people posting might or might not be nurses.

Was there actually a HIPAA rule to break because it happened? Or did you just not want to tell us this was homework because you knew we wouldn't answer it if we did.

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Thank you for your responses, this was an assignment for class where I was supposed to get other nurses FEELINGS about the scenario presented.....

Then you should have SAID that, not posed the question as though you had experienced something YOU wanted to discuss further, for discussion's sake.

Want to know my feelings? I feel not only misled, but actually lied to (the purpose of which was to get answers to a homework assignment), and don't appreciate it.

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