Now that we got our long awaited phone call with the match, aka Adoption Opportunity, thought I would take a few moments to explain what this means.  Typically an expectant birth parent contacts an adoption agency about their interest in adoption then fill out their paperwork.  They will be shown many adoptive family profiles that fit certain parameters and then chose a few favorites.  The adoptive family will be notified of the interest from the birth parent and will be given information about the birth parent so see if the adoption opportunity could fit their preferences.  If the birth parent choses that adoptive family, the family will be expected to 'match' with the birth parent if the preferences are agreed upon.  This is then a successful match.

However, when we were doing our shoe fundraiser this past summer a former classmate of Katie's is friends with a woman who was thinking of adoption and connected us.  We met with her in June as a meet and greet and agreed to move forward with her.  We found our the gender in July and we waited to go active with our agency, American Adoptions.  We were well on our way to matching with her, just waiting for her to complete her paperwork.  It has been interesting being able to follow along the process with her.  Typically we wouldn't know any of this and just be presented with all of the information at the match phone call.  

We wanted to move forward with the agency for a few reasons, #1 this is our first adoption and to have the assistance and guidance is calming, #2 every birth family deserves to have support services including grief and loss and #3 our agency provides some financial protection.  Yes we could have saved a lot of money by using just adoption lawyers, however this process is not just about us getting a baby, its creating a bond with another family for the rest of the child's life.

Today, 10/9/2020 we finally got the phone call with the match offer and we both agreed, now its time for more paperwork.

Essentially a match is an agreement that the adoptive family is moving towards an adoption with a birth family.

With that said, there is always the possibility of having a disrupted adoption upto 5 business days after the termination of parental rights is signed, which can be signed 72 hours after birth.

We will keep all positive thoughts moving forward and are super excited for our journey to continue!