Adoption

Adoption

What are our programs?

Children’s Connections is a licensed child-placing agency in Texas. We work with birth parents, genetic embryo donors and adoptive parents. We conduct infant, child, and embryo adoption that best meet the needs of all individuals involved.

Connecting Hearts Infant Adoption

Let us help you grow your family!
We want to make every step of your adoption journey as simple as possible!

Children’s Connections works with birth parents in Texas and adoptive parents throughout the United States to create adoption plans that best meet the needs of the individuals involved.

We develop openness plans that are in agreement with the wishes of the birth and adopting families. We encourage openness in adoption since openness leads to more successful outcomes for all parties in the adoption process. However, we understand that some situations and some families may choose varying levels of openness.

Our statewide Adoption Support Center is located in Lubbock, Texas and we have satellite locations throughout the state of Texas. We work with your expectant mother anywhere in Texas and provide local services to help her have a healthy pregnancy.

Children’s Connections will handle all details of your adoption process – from your first inquiry until your adoption is finalized – with continued support at every step of your adoption journey!

Think of us as your personal tour guide on your adoption journey!

Frequently Asked Questions:

What are the benefits of open infant domestic adoption?

The benefits include the adoptive family will have access to the child’s health history, have the opportunity to develop a relationship with the child’s birth parents and be able to share with the child the reasons his or her birth parents made an adoption plan. Open adoption is beneficial to all parts of the adoption triad, the adoptive family, birth parents and child.

What is openness in adoption?

Openness in adoption is defined as contact between the adoptive and birth families and is on a continuum from closed to open adoption. Openness in adoption is not co-parenting or confusing for the child. Instead, it allows some level of contact between the birth and adoptive families throughout the child’s life. This helps the child not to feel abandoned or rejected.

What is the average level of openness?

Most birth parents want some level of openness, but the amount of desired contact varies. We help birth and adoptive families negotiate and come to an agreement about the level of openness in the adoption. This level of openness is not legally binding, but is based on trust and facilitated by CCI.

Waiting Child

Children’s Connections, Inc. offers families an alternative to foster adoption in Texas.

There are thousands of available foster children for adoption in other states. As an adoptive family with CCI, you will not need to be a foster family to have these children placed in your home for adoption. Once you have an approved adoptive home study, our Waiting Child Coordinator will be able to fax, email or mail your home study to caseworkers in other states. You will be able to look at adoptable children through different websites and let us know the children for which you would like would like being considered. Most of the children available are over age five and have some special needs.

Many times, the state in which the child resides will provide financial assistance to adoptive families. There is also an adoption tax credit during the year you adopt.

Our Waiting Child Coordinator will make follow up contact with caseworkers about your application. Once a match is made between an adoptive family and a child(ren), our coordinator will be available to coordinate the placement details between the State of Texas and the state in which the foster child resides. You will be assigned an Adoption, Child & Family Specialist to ensure you have the support you need to make the adjustments for a successful placement. You will be supported throughout the entire adoption.

Frequently Asked Questions:

I do not have a “traditional” family. Are there restrictions on who can adopt?

Many states are accepting of single parent adoptions as well as non-traditional families.

Is there some financial assistance available to adopt?

There are different loans and grants you can apply for as well as the Adoption Tax Credit and possibly financial incentives through your employer.

Once a child is placed in my home, will I be on my own?

At Children’s Connections, we offer support throughout the years.

If I submit my home study for a child(ren) and then find out more about the child(ren) and decide it would not be a good fit for my family, can I back out?

Yes, you may back out at any time before the finalization of the adoption. We encourage you to make that assessment prior to any placement of the child(ren) into your home to minimize adoption disruption for the child(ren).

Crystal Angels Embryo Program

Children’s Connections Embryo Adoption Program, known as “Crystal Angels,” is a multi-faceted program. Crystal Angels consists of all necessary elements of embryo adoption. CCI works extensively with the genetic and adopting parents, each who gives a priceless gift to the other.

Embryo Adoption

  • IVF, Egg Donation or other procedures too costly? Embryo Adoption is an option! Adopt fertilized embryos ready for transfer. Give birth to your adopted child through the Crystal Angels embryo adoption program!
  • Since you have experienced fertility struggles, you may be considering options such as adoption. As you come to terms with parenting a child who is not genetically related to you, this new type of adoption might be the right choice for you.
  • Medical advances in in-vitro fertilization (IVF) have helped many couples achieve their desires to have children. Often, those couples complete their families only to have embryos that remain in storage.
  • There are 600,000+ embryos in frozen storage in the United States. Now these donor parents can choose to give their embryos opportunity for life through embryo adoption.
  • This program allows embryo donor parents to place their remaining embryos with adopting parents who transfer the frozen embryos to the adopting mother’s or a surrogate’s uterus in hopes of giving life to these Crystal Angels.
  • Embryo adoption benefits everyone involved!
  • Fertilized embryos have an opportunity to experience the excitement and anticipation of pregnancy and childbirth
  • Embryo donor parents may participate in selecting adoptive parents for their genetic embryos and are able to help another couple become parents

Our Crystal Angels program will provide all necessary elements of Embryo Adoption. Our Specialists will:

  • Conduct donor and adopting parent intake, screening and counseling
  • Provide phone and email consultations for donor and adopting parents
  • Make counseling referrals for donor and adopting parents, if requested
  • Perform donor and adopting parent matching, assisting both parties in selecting a family
  • Review the embryo adoption placement and relinquishment agreement and obtain signatures from all parties
  • Facilitate consent and release forms required by donor and adopting parents’ clinics prior to transporting the embryos
  • Coordinate shipping the embryos from the donor parents’ clinic to the adopting parents’ clinic
  • Provide post-adoption support for donor and adopting parents

Frequently Asked Questions:

What are the benefits of embryo adoption?
  • Adopting parents have the chance to experience pregnancy and the delivery of their child.
  • Prospective parents who are carriers of genetic disorders can have children who will not inherit these disorders.
  • Parents know the location of their child(ren)’s siblings.
  • Parents receive the Health, Social, Education & Genetic History of the donating family.
What are the risks of embryo adoption?

Despite complete medical readiness of the adopting mother to receive the embryo(s) and the extensive testing done to determine the health of the embryo(s), the greatest risk to embryo adoption is that there can be no guarantee of a successful pregnancy.

What is openness in adoption?

Openness in adoption is defined as contact between the genetic parents and the adopting parents and is on a continuum ranging from closed to open adoption. Most of our embryo adoptions fall in the range of semi-open, where letters and pictures are shared on a consistent basis throughout the years.

Embryo Donation

  • Give the gift of life to your stored embryos! Give the gift of parenthood to another family!
  • If you have finished building your family through in-vitro fertilization or have decided you will not pursue another pregnancy, what will you do with your unused embryos that remain frozen?
  • You have options:
  • Donate them to research
  • Dispose of them
  • Donate them anonymously with no knowledge of the outcome
  • Leave them frozen
  • Place them for adoption and help another family grow, maintaining contact or not, as desired. That’s where we come in!
  • Through CCI’s embryo program, Crystal Angels, you place your embryos for adoption, select adoptive parents, and give another family the opportunity to receive the wonderful gift of parenthood!
  • Embryo adoption benefits everyone involved!
  • Fertilized embryos have an opportunity to become healthy babies
  • Another family has the opportunity to experience the excitement and anticipation of pregnancy and childbirth
  • You may stay in touch with any children born from your stored embryos, if desired

Our Crystal Angels donor program will provide all necessary elements of Embryo donation. Our Specialists will:

  • Conduct donor and adopting parent intake, screening and counseling
  • Provide phone and email consultations for donor and adopting parents
  • Make counseling referrals for donor and adopting parents, if requested
  • Perform donor and adopting parent matching, assisting both parties in selecting another family
  • Review the embryo adoption placement and relinquishment agreement and obtain signatures from all parties
  • Facilitate consent and release forms required by donor and adopting parents’ clinics prior to transporting the embryos
  • Coordinate shipping the embryos from the donor parents’ clinic to the adopting parents’ clinic
  • Provide post-adoption support for donor adopting parents

Frequently Asked Questions:

What other options are available besides donating the embryos for adoption?
  • Genetic parents may choose to keep the embryos frozen indefinitely (this eventually will destroy the embryos), to donate the embryos for stem cell research or to destroy them.
  • Embryo donors may donate to a clinic for placement with an individual or couple with no knowledge about the individual or couple and no information about children born to them.
Are there any agency restrictions for the adoptive parents, such as age, marital status (single parents), or life style?

Embryo donors set any restrictions or criteria for the potential adoptive family.

What is openness in adoption? Pregnancy Support & Crime Victim Assistance

Openness in adoption is defined as contact between the genetic parents and the adopting parents and is on a continuum ranging from closed to open adoption. Most of our embryo adoptions fall in the range of semi-open, where letters and pictures are shared on a consistent basis throughout the years. The amount of openness desired is up to each family.

What are the benefits of embryo adoption?

There is emotional reassurance to genetic parents, to know that the embryos, which they cherish, will have a chance at life in a loving home. There is also immeasurable contentment in knowing they have enriched the life of an adoptive couple, giving them the opportunity they seek of becoming parents. Also, cryopreservation can be a costly expense. Donating embryos to adopting parents can spare genetic parents that ongoing expense.

What are the risks of embryo adoption?

Despite complete medical readiness of the adopting mother to receive the embryo(s) and the extensive testing done to determine the health of the embryo(s), the greatest risk to embryo adoption is that there can be no guarantee of a successful pregnancy.

Please contact us to learn more information. We would love to discuss each program in more detail with you and your family.