We are adopting!

When we first met, openness to adoption was one of the first things we discussed. I, Hannah, have been wanting to adopt my entire life and it turned out Matt had been considering and open to adoption for years as well. Adoption has always been a part of our family plan.

It was always our desire to have at least one biological child before adopting. However, after two years of unsuccessfully trying to conceive, we have decided that it’s best for our family to go ahead and start pursuing adoption and we couldn’t possibly be more excited!

We have decided to pursue domestic infant adoption. Since this will be our first child, we want to start at the beginning. After we learn the ropes a bit, we may look at adopting older children in the future.

We believe that love makes a family and we cannot wait to provide a safe and loving home to a sweet baby who needs it!

We have filled out and submitted our adoption application and are in a period of waiting. The adoption agency we chose only works with 7 adoptive families at a time. They are currently full, so we are on a waiting list to officially become one of the 7. This could happen as soon as January 2025. Once we officially become one of the 7, we will be connected to a home study writer to begin that process. A home study has to be complete in order for us to be matched with a birth mom.

In the meantime, we have home study checklists to begin preparing for, a nursery to finish setting up, and generally just preparing to become parents hopefully in the near future.

If you feel led to support us in this process, there are a few ways you can do so:

Prayer: While we wait, we would appreciate if you would join us in praying for the baby that will eventually be coming into our home, the mother who will be making an incredibly difficult choice to surrender her baby, and for us as we will be first time parents.

Registry: We, like any new, expectant parents, have a lot of preparation to do and things to get to complete our nursery and prepare our home for an infant. We have created an adoption registry that we are using as our personal checklist of things we need to get. If you feel led to help us in preparing our home and nursery, we would be incredibly grateful to receive any of the items on our registry.

Financially: There are a lot of costs associated with adopting including application, home study, matching, and placement fees, attorney fees, court costs, and birth mom expenses to name a few. The average adoption costs $20,000-$40,000+. Adoption is something we will be pursuing regardless of whether we receive outside financial support, however we know loved ones may feel led to support us in this way, so we have made an Adopt Together Fundraiser page. All funds donated through Adopt Together will go directly towards covering our adoption expenses. All donations are tax-deductible and a receipt will be provided either at the time of donation or at the end of the year depending on your method of payment.

If you just want to keep up with us on this journey, we encourage you to check this website regularly as it will be the primary platform where we will provide updates.

With Love,

The Schoonovers