Are You Thinking of Applying for Adoption to Become a Parent?

Are you thinking of applying for adoption to become a parent? In this situation, before moving on to the series of legal procedures, which are quite complicated, really think about whether you are prepared for this step from an emotional point of view. Adoption will legally be the parents of a child - but to feel like a parent, you need more than just documents…

To adopt, you will go through a few necessary legal steps: in short, first of all, you need an assessment, made by the child protection department - which decides if you meet the criteria to provide a good home (economically, but and emotionally).

You will receive a confirmation that will allow you to adopt, after which, with the consent of the child's natural parents or guardian (if any), it will be entrusted to you for three months, during which time it will be assessed how the child adapts and who related to him. The court will approve the adoption based on the report made by the child protection directorate at the end of this probationary period.

All legal procedures take a long time and you will be caught up in this whole process, without being able to think about whether or not you are ready for this decisive step. Therefore, before starting the legal procedures for adoption, think about what adoption means, what it means to be a parent, and whether this is a good choice for you (and of course, find out more about adoption and talk to the direction of social assistance and child protection).

Many couples want to adopt because they are facing infertility - if you are in this situation, before moving on to adoption, face the problem and try to heal yourself emotionally from this great inner emptiness - that you know you can't have your child.

Do not become adoptive parents as long as you are still complaining of infertility and going through depressive states related to the inability to have your child. Because as long as you do not make peace with the idea, do not accept it, and are not ready to move on, to continue your life, you will always be as aware as possible that the little one is not your child…

Before adopting, think about whether you can get over the fact that this child is not inheriting your genetic material. Can you lovingly raise someone else's, child? Can you ignore the fact that his parents are unknown (or that they are not exactly civic role models)?

Can you accept that regardless of your biological heritage, he will be your child? The truth is that even if he doesn't inherit it biologically, the baby will be yours - you will be his role model and you will shape him as a person. Formation during childhood and the influence of parents make a child what he is, because, in addition to the inherited traits, important are the role models he has had and what he has learned.

Don't expect too high, dreaming that you will be a happy family from the first moment - adoption, in addition to the fact that from a legal point of view it is a somewhat difficult process, is also emotionally a longer process. Especially with an older child, it takes time for him to get used to you, to get used to looking at you as a parent, to trust you, and to develop an attachment to you.

In addition, you will not suddenly feel like your parents - although sometimes it happens, in the case of adoptive parents that unconditional love for the child does not appear spontaneously, but develops over time. When you realize that the little one has only you and that it depends entirely on you when you look into his eyes that ask you to starve the affection he did not have, the love of a parent will be born…

What emotions will cause you to think that you will adopt a child? Enthusiasm, joy, impatience, fear? Everything is normal: when you are ready to become an adoptive parent, go from impatience to having a baby to the fear that you may not be able to cope! It is good if you think about what you will give your child and if you will be the parents he needs.

It is good when the expectation is accompanied by a certain fear - being prepared does not rule out the fear that you may not be able to cope with the care of the child (any parent, natural or adoptive, feels this fear that he will not be prepared enough).

If, however, you still have doubts, if you are afraid that you will not be able to attach to the child if you are still wondering if adoption is the best choice for you - take some more time to talk together and think about all that it means to become an adoptive parent.

When considering serious adoption, consider not only your desire to be a parent, but also your child's interests: you will be able to provide what a child needs - in addition to the concrete aspects of parenting and care, and affection, protection, education, a harmonious family?

You will be able to look at him as your child - because in the end, even if he is not your biological child, you will be the ones who form him and prepare him for the world, so he is your child! Sometimes the desire to be a parent is so intense that it blinds you and you don't think about everything - but to know that you will be a good adoptive parent, you need to think about the child first.

If you feel truly ready to become an adoptive parent, never forget that you are doing a good thing, that because of you, a child will have a warm home and will receive much-needed affection. And that he will be your child not only from a legal perspective - you are now responsible for the life of a little one, his growth, and development, as well as a natural parent. To him, you will be his parents, the ones he can count on - and if not immediately, then in time, you will feel like your child.