So… you are parents and you’re in your home loving on your baby. Friends and family are excited and want to celebrate with you, however, they may not quite know how to support you during this time. They may wonder if it’s okay to stop by, deliver a meal or offer to babysit. They may have additional questions as to what you need. While I’m an advocate of telling people what you need, not all people hear when there’s a baby involved! Let’s look at a few ways family and friends can support you while you bond and spend time snuggling with your little one.
In asking several adoptive parents how they either received support or would have liked to receive support, I compiled a list of things to consider as your family and friends champion you and your child:
- DO pray!
- DO accept our decision to adopt without question and how we choose to share about our personal life and decisions.
- DO accept our choice of a child regardless of their race, heritage or age.
- DO offer practical help if you don’t mind giving us your time.
- DO respect that we need bonding time with our child.
- DO respect our parenting style.
- DO speak of the birth family with favorable words – We want to honor them with our words and our actions. Speaking negatively of our child(ren)’s biology can transfer to them.
- DO be willing to learn and educate yourself about adoption.
- DO show our child unconditional love.
- DON’T feel sorry for our adopted child.
- DON’T tell us that now that we’ve adopted we’ll get pregnant with a child of “our own”.
- DON’T make demands for our time and attention during our adjustment to this new phase.
One adoptive mother’s story: When we brought our child home (directly from the hospital) we had very few items. We struggled for years with infertility and it was too painful to have baby items in our home. Our child was born a month early (we had no idea of gender prior to birth) so we stopped at Babies R Us (while traveling home) to get what we needed. Upon arriving home, I borrowed from friends (bottles and necessary items) to get through until a baby shower was planned. I think everyone thought we must have everything that we needed (despite being registered at Babies R Us!) because at the baby shower we received only clothes and small items. In addition, not one person brought us a meal or offered to help out in any other way. I also didn’t get paid maternity leave! We were not angry, we never expected anything from anyone, but I was hurt. For years I had been supportive, excited, and giving (of time and resources) when my friends welcomed their children into the world. In fact, when I confided in one friend about how sleep deprived I was she stated “well, isn’t this what you wanted?”. This was what I wanted, but I was tired! Everyone thought I should spring right in to motherhood, but I didn’t. I was struggling terribly (with what later was pointed out to me, by an adoption worker, as post adoption blues). I didn’t feel worthy of being my baby’s mom. I would stay awake at night wondering if his birth mother was hurting, missing him. I wondered if he missed her. If I would ever be good enough. I was sad, confused, and felt guilty during what should have been one of the happiest times of my life. So… support me, on my terms.
Let’s work together to help those in the adoption community as they begin this wonderful stage of the journey! Be aware, and be sensitive/understanding and look for ways you can help, so that these new parents feel empowered and prepared to welcome home their new little one.
