Post Adoption Agreement: Send Your Adoption Updates! Part One

My name is Lauren, though some of you may know me as the “update lady”. I am the front desk coordinator at Kirsh & Kirsh, but I also work with post adoption updates, as well as helping new prospective adoptive parents with the first steps of the adoption process with our firm.

With this being my first blog, I wanted to write about something I work with on a daily basis and feel very strongly about, which is post adoption updates. I work with both birth parents and adoptive parents about these updates. I would like for new and old adoptive parents to know what your updates mean for these birth parents, and also explain a little bit about how our post adoption update program works at Kirsh & Kirsh.

Most updates consist of two things: a letter and photographs. The written letter usually consists of letting the birth parents know how the child is developing, what the child’s interests are, how the child is changing each day, and just how the child is doing overall. Adoptive parents will often times also express gratitude towards the birth parents and how much their lives have changed thanks to the selfless, brave acts of the birth parents’ decision to make an adoption plan for their child. In our experience, birth parents hold on to every word that is written, and they especially love looking at the photos.

Birth parents have repeatedly told me that the most important aspect of the updates are the photos. Traditionally, in order for adoptive parents to create an update they would have to put some serious leg work into the process. It would involve taking photos, developing those photos, writing a letter, and then mailing everything to us. Thanfully, technology has vastly changed this process. With camera phones now in everyone’s hands we are snapping photos left and right. We work with a company called Child Connect which allows adoptive parents to upload photos to a secure, confidential site and those photos can be viewed online by the birth parents. Child Connect will also print a life book and physical photos and mail them to the birth parents. Most of our families use this service, however, we do have families that provide updates directly between the birth parents and themselves.

Make sure to read Part Two!

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