FAQ About Placing

At Abrazo, we advocate for full-disclosure open adoptions, meaning the adopting parents and the prospective birthfamilies exchange identifying information including last names and addresses, engage in direct communication (phone calls, correspondence) and continue contact (including visits) throughout each child’s life span. Our parents who place are expected to provide any child they place through Abrazo with honest, age-appropriate information about themselves and their family’s history, from the day they launch their adoption plan onwards. While some expectant parents fear that openness might be harder to live with, afterwards, the birthparents who place through Abrazo tell us it’s only because they know where their child is and how he or she is doing that they are at peace with the decision that they made.

The placing parents with whom Abrazo works can contact us at any point they feel ready to begin adoption planning. For those who are pregnant, we usually encourage you to wait until at least the fourth or fifth month before becoming matching with an adoptive couple and receiving maternity support, to be sure that you’ve had time to explore all your options and ensure that adoption feels right for you and your baby. But Abrazo gladly provides options counseling at any point, and the final adoption paperwork can be signed anytime after the baby is 48 hours old.

We welcome expectant parents of all racial backgrounds, and respect your right to make your own best decisions for your child/ren’s future. If you want your child to grow up in a same-race home, just let us know and we’ll do our best to help you find an adoptive family of your own race.

In Texas, there is no “age of consent” so Abrazo honors Texas state laws that allow a parent of any age to make an adoption plan for their baby without their parent’s knowledge and/or approval. That said, however, we do recognize the importance of family support, and we encourage the expectant parents with whom we work to not exclude their families from their adoption plans, if involving them would be a positive choice.

All of Abrazo’s services are free to expectant parents planning for placement; the adopting families with whom we work provide the funding that is used to meet the needs of the birthparents with whom we work.

Absolutely. We recognize that every baby deserves the best, and if your child is born with drug exposure, be forewarned that the hospital may notify Child Protective Services (in accordance with the law); however, if you let the workers know you have plans to place with Abrazo, then usually your adoption plan with us can proceed without further state intervention.

According to state law, Abrazo can assist with what’s called “maternity related expenses” during the pregnancy and up to eight (8) weeks afterwards. These vary depending on your needs and resources, but generally include such things as medical care, housing, basic utilities, transportation to/from appointments, clothing, food, childcare during labor & delivery, etc. These costs are paid by the agency and covered by the adopting family, so please be reasonably sure of your intentions before requesting financial help. While there’s nothing that has to be paid back if a prospective birthparent decides not to place, seeking maternity support if you know you won’t end up placing OR accepting financial assistance from more than one agency at a time may constitute fraud, a felony offense that is punishable by law.

Abrazo is able to work with placing parents from most states, generally; call us to find out whether your state will allow us to come to you, or if your state laws require you to travel to Texas in order to have your child adopted through our agency. (Void where prohibited.)

Expectant parents who are considering adoption have every right to make other plans up any any time up until the adoption consents are signed. (These consents, sometimes known as “relinquishment documents,” cannot legally be signed until a newborn is at least 48 hours old.) However, once the consents have been signed, in Texas the documents are irrevocable, meaning there’s no “reclaiming” the child or taking back your decision. This is why it is so important for anyone who is making adoption plans to be absolutely certain of their decision before they relinquish parental rights in Texas, so they won’t have any regrets later.

To put your baby’s future before your own by making a loving adoption plan doesn’t seem wrong or selfish at all; it’s anything but, if you’re doing it the right way and for the right reasons. The parents who place their children for adoption at Abrazo want the very best for their little ones. They don’t want their children to suffer or go without the things they need in life. How can that be wrong? We think that’s a mature, unselfish choice and we appreciate their courage. They don’t make adoption plans to make their own lives easier, but rather, to make their child’s life better. Adoptive parents can’t ever “replace” a child’s birthparents, but they can add stability and security to the life of a child who is already much-loved by both of them. Adoption can’t guarantee that a child’s life will be better– yet it does ensure that the child’s future will be different.

Absolutely! Just complete the Information Request that’s here on our website and we’ll promptly send you a packet of info (in an envelope that says nothing about adoption on the outside–just in case you’re very private or your mailman is very nosy.)

The agency’s full-service program is reserved for adoptive families with documented infertility, who can’t get pregnancy and have no other means of building a family except by adoption. Most are eagerly waiting to become parents for the first time, while some have adopted before or previously had a biological pregnancy but can never again conceive another child. All are carefully investigated, right down to the FBI criminal and child abuse checks, to be sure that they are good people who are ready to provide a safe and nurturing home and to embrace you and your child with open arms.

Abrazo cares more about birthmoms and birthdads. This is an agency that advocates for birthparents because we truly respect the tough choices they make out of love for their kids. Our staff tends to be highly protective of the expectant parents who come to us, and we want to help them all we can. We truly want parents who place here to feel at peace with the adoptions they do with us; free of judgement and fully informed, before, during and after placement. We consider our birthfamilies friends for life.

Placing parents at Abrazo get the emotional support they need before and after adoption through individual counseling, our Birthparent Support Group that meets weekly, our online Forum, toll-free calls to/from their caseworker, Abrazo’s private First Moms Facebook group, and the agency’s annual Camp Abrazo reunion weekend, if they choose to participate.

This is entirely up to you, and Abrazo will respect your choice. While it can be beneficial to keep siblings together, we recognize that some birthparents have their own reasons to want to make different plans and we’ll gladly work with you to make whatever decisions you feel are best for the child/ren you are placing.

Abrazo’s staff is compassionate and easy to talk to, and will respect your wishes with regards to contact; however, let us help you understand why knowing about you will be very important to any child you place, and let’s work together to make plans that you will be comfortable with and that will best meet the future needs of your child and his/her family, as well.

Under the laws of Texas at the current time, an attorney would probably tell you that the only time a father’s signed consent is needed is if you are married at the time of placement or if the baby’s father has already gone to court to prove paternity of the child being placed. Call us and let’s get Abrazo’s attorney to explain, if you’re worried about the father’s rights, but the short answer is that mothers who feel adoption is best can usually make this choice without the father’s involvement (except in very specific circumstances.)

Abrazo was founded by a Protestant minister’s daughter, and is staffed by women of faith, however, the agency is not affiliated with any specific church denomination and welcomes people of all faiths.

Adoption is never an easy choice, and some moms understandably feel they have to take their baby home from the hospital to try to make it work, just to be sure, before deciding to place; we understand that completely. We’ve known plenty of mothers struggling to raise kids they didn’t feel ready to parent, just because of pressure from relatives or friends. It’s a lot harder than it looks! and all those promises of help people offer when babies are first born don’t always last. Abrazo works with all placing parents, no matter how long they’ve waited to make their decision. We do know families who are waiting to adopt older babies and toddlers or even preschoolers, so if you feel in your heart that an adoptive home could better provide for your child, call us and let’s talk about your adoption options now.

Abrazo is private, nonprofit 501c3 organization so the agency is privately-funded, solely through tax-deductible contributions and fees paid for services by adopting parents who cannot have children any other way and are carefully approved for open adoptions of children of all backgrounds.

Abrazo works with adoptive families from all across America (except New York, where the laws would require us to have an office there.) The majority of Abrazo’s adoptive families live in Texas, Tennessee, Wisconsin, New Jersey, Georgia, Louisiana, Illinois, Mississippi and Missouri. Recent changes in American homeland security now prohibit Abrazo from placing with adoptive families outside the US. That’s not really a problem for us, though, because we don’t believe that it is realistic to think that adoptions could really be open if the adoptive family and birthfamily live an ocean apart– and openness matters, to us!

Abrazo’s staff all hold Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees (in Psychology, Sociology, Social Work or Counseling.) They have experience in working in adoptions, foster care, child welfare and nonprofit social services because they genuinely care about helping others.

Not to worry; just call our office and let us know, and we’ll make sure we send a staff member who’s a notary out to see you so it’s not a hassle for you.

Abrazo has loving adoptive families awaiting all types of children, so please don’t be afraid, because we’ll work with you to find a wonderful home for your child– no matter what complications your child may have.

Abrazo places with single adoptive parents or legally-married couples who have documented infertility, are over the age of 25, are emotionally-stable, financially-sound, and committed to fully open adoption practices.

In Texas, placing parents whose adoption plans are handled through licensed Texas agencies can receive needed financial support for such needs as housing, groceries, clothing, etc., while placing parents whose adoptions are being handled privately through an attorney can only receive financial assistance with medical bills and legal bills. Agency adoptions are generally considered safer, because the agency looks out for the needs of everyone in the adoption plan, while attorneys can only legally advise the client who is paying them. If you do opt for a private adoption, be sure the adoptive family is paying for you to have a separate attorney all your own, since their adoption lawyer cannot ethically represent both you and them due to potential “conflict of interest” standards.

If Child Protective Services is threatening to take your child/ren and you want to make an open adoption plan instead, Abrazo can absolutely help you with this, as long as CPS has not yet been to court to terminate your parental rights. Open adoption at Abrazo means that you can choose your child/ren’s new family, get to know them, and keep in touch, unlike what will happen if CPS takes your child/ren, terminates your rights and places your child/ren in a closed adoption where you never know where your child/ren ended up or with whom. If your child has been the victim of abuse or neglect, Abrazo just needs to know what happened, to get your child into a loving adoptive home that will welcome both your child and you into their lives– before CPS can intervene in your choice.

Abrazo educates it adoptive families to understand that a birthparent’s needs may change over time and we urge our adoptive families to work to balance the birthparent’s needs with those of the adoptee.

Texas law does not currently allow for legally-enforceable post-placement contact agreements, to our regret, so we take every precaution to advise the birthparents with whom we work to only consider entrusting their precious children to those whom they have every reason to believe they can trust. We want our families to exchange “identifying information” (ie., last name, permanent address, home telephone, etc.) and keep in touch directly across their child’s lifespan. Openness is the gift that all parents (birthparents and adoptive parents) join together in giving their children, so the kids adopted through Abrazo grow up with full knowledge of and access to both families throughout their lifetime.

This is a very special scholarship program that was initially made possible through the generosity of bestselling novelist Jacquelyn Mitchard, who adopted twice with Abrazo’s help. Birthmoms who have already placed a child through Abrazo (who have an already-finalized adoption), who have been accepted to a college or trade school and who need help with tuition can apply through the San Antonio Foundation, the independent organization that administers the program on Abrazo’s behalf.