The Latter-day Saint Church is getting out of the adoption business... sort of.
For the past couple of years, the LDS Church has been faced with some scrutiny over its Adoption practices. There are currently lawsuits going on about the birth fathers' rights. Utah's laws are catered to protect the mothers of babies being born, and so Utah has become a mecca of sorts for women wanting to place babies for adoption from across the country. (I have even heard of women coming to Utah to give birth from other countries but I am not sure how often this is done!) Adoptions cost the church a lot of money as adoptions were subsidized through LDS Family Services for applicable families. This allowed many couples the opportunity to adopt when they otherwise not be able to financially support it.
Cut to now... LDS Family Services will not act as a placement service. Instead, applicable Latter-day Saint couples are eligible for a free subscription to adoption.com which is typically a rather-expensive service that allows birth families to locate adoptive families.
This will help mostly infertile couples to locate babies across the country who are being placed for adoption. The LDS Church will not subsidize adoption costs anymore, which will save the church money but will also cost adoptive families more in the adoption costs. Good news for many couples.
This will not however help me... First, I am not married. Second, I am not pursuing infant adoption. This makes me an anomaly in the LDS adoption community. Most families seek very young children, specifically infants. That is great---it is their choice to do so.
For those who are not aware, applicable couples for the LDS funded Adoption.com profiles need to be heterosexual, married in the temple, temple worthy type individuals. Adoption.com has many same-sex couples, mixed-religious couples, etc. A birth family would still choose the adoptive family from a long list of adoptive families, LDS or not. It will be their choice. Being LDS will only go towards paying the cost of the adoption.com website profile for a year. Following this, I think there will be a discounted rate if I remember right.
Good news to families hoping to adopt infants!
For people like me who are the atypical odd-balls of the adoption community, I'll stick with foster care adoption for now.
For the past couple of years, the LDS Church has been faced with some scrutiny over its Adoption practices. There are currently lawsuits going on about the birth fathers' rights. Utah's laws are catered to protect the mothers of babies being born, and so Utah has become a mecca of sorts for women wanting to place babies for adoption from across the country. (I have even heard of women coming to Utah to give birth from other countries but I am not sure how often this is done!) Adoptions cost the church a lot of money as adoptions were subsidized through LDS Family Services for applicable families. This allowed many couples the opportunity to adopt when they otherwise not be able to financially support it.
Cut to now... LDS Family Services will not act as a placement service. Instead, applicable Latter-day Saint couples are eligible for a free subscription to adoption.com which is typically a rather-expensive service that allows birth families to locate adoptive families.
This will help mostly infertile couples to locate babies across the country who are being placed for adoption. The LDS Church will not subsidize adoption costs anymore, which will save the church money but will also cost adoptive families more in the adoption costs. Good news for many couples.
This will not however help me... First, I am not married. Second, I am not pursuing infant adoption. This makes me an anomaly in the LDS adoption community. Most families seek very young children, specifically infants. That is great---it is their choice to do so.
For those who are not aware, applicable couples for the LDS funded Adoption.com profiles need to be heterosexual, married in the temple, temple worthy type individuals. Adoption.com has many same-sex couples, mixed-religious couples, etc. A birth family would still choose the adoptive family from a long list of adoptive families, LDS or not. It will be their choice. Being LDS will only go towards paying the cost of the adoption.com website profile for a year. Following this, I think there will be a discounted rate if I remember right.
Good news to families hoping to adopt infants!
For people like me who are the atypical odd-balls of the adoption community, I'll stick with foster care adoption for now.