Adoption professionals

When a patient or client is facing an unexpected pregnancy, the words we use matter. Conversations about adoption can feel difficult, and professionals often want to provide information without making assumptions, creating pressure, or unintentionally using language that feels outdated or judgmental.

The Adoption Support Center provides virtual and in-person education for women’s health providers and other professionals who may work with women considering adoption.

For more than 20 years, Amanda Hammond, Executive Director of ASC, has provided adoption education to women’s health professionals throughout Indiana. Drawing on decades of experience working directly with expectant and birth mothers, Amanda helps staff better understand why women consider adoption, what ethical adoption looks like today, and how the language used during these conversations can make a meaningful difference.

Education can be tailored to your team and may include understanding why women consider adoption, current and respectful adoption language, how to discuss adoption without pressure, the rights and needs of expectant mothers, and when and how to make an appropriate referral.

ASC can also provide current educational and marketing materials for your office so your staff has accurate information available when a patient wants to learn more about adoption.

Adoption has changed, and we believe that’s a good thing.

Today, ethical adoption begins with informed choice. An expectant mother should have time to understand her options, decide whether adoption is right for her, and determine what she wants an adoption relationship to look like — without pressure to make those decisions before she is ready.

Open adoption can look different for every family. For some, it means ongoing visits, calls, photos and a relationship that grows over time. For others, contact may be more limited. These relationships can also change as children grow and circumstances evolve.

What matters is that conversations about openness happen honestly and thoughtfully, with the adopted person at the center.

ASC helps expectant mothers think through what matters to them, understand their choices, and find prospective adoptive families whose hopes for openness align with their own. Our goal isn’t to promote a particular kind of adoption. It’s to help each person make informed decisions, develop realistic expectations, and approach the relationship with respect for everyone involved.