News & Impact

Mischa and Lillie

“We’re so grateful to Adoption Connection for being there for us! Their encouragement to keep showing up led us to life with Felix, which we wouldn’t trade for anything.”

We knew we wanted to adopt, and got started in the outreach program in Fall 2021. While we waited for a match, we tried to live our best lives, knowing that the call could come at any time—so we visited family, went on adventures, and hoped we’d hear good news soon.

We met with a birth mother for the first time the next summer, which was exciting and scary and hopeful all at once, but it wasn’t a match. Later that year, just before the holidays, we flew to Salt Lake City for an out-of-state match and spent two weeks with a birth mother and baby at the hospital. We visited baby in the NICU each day, feeding her tiny bottles, and spent time with the birth mother as she recovered from a difficult delivery. It was an extraordinary challenge, and we woke up each day choosing to show up with open hearts, for whatever outcome. Ultimately, the birth mother decided to parent, which both broke our hearts and helped us realize that nothing is certain. The adoption process isn’t just about going home with a baby—it’s about showing up when there’s a potential need and supporting however you can. We are still in regular touch with that birth mother and we are so glad she made the right decision for herself and her baby.

A year after that experience, we got a few calls from the agency about potential matches but were not selected by the birth mothers. We were starting to wonder if we should take new pictures, change something in our child preferences form, or update our story in our outreach profile—and that’s when we got the call for another match, in a small town in the middle of Texas. We flew out of state, full of hope. A few days later the match did not pan out. We left feeling very dejected, wondering if a successful match would ever happen for us. We thought it’d be at least a year before we had another match.

One month later, we returned home from a family trip out of state. While we were still in the airport at SFO, collecting our bags, we got a text from Adoption Connection about an immediate hospital placement—a baby boy born that morning, an hour away from our home. Could we drive to the hospital from the airport and be there that evening to meet baby? We said YES!

Two days later, we were home with our sweet baby boy, who we named Felix. He’s now 4 months old, and the past few months have been overwhelming, amazing, and wonderful as we’ve transitioned into parenthood. Felix is teaching us how to be patient, present, and enjoy all the little (and big) moments. We love him with all our hearts and are so glad we kept showing up in this process. It was all worth it.

Looking back, we’re so grateful to all the staff and case workers at Adoption Connection for being there for us throughout each of our potential matches—to talk us through details, arrange conversations with birth mothers, counsel us in stressful moments, and encourage us to just keep showing up. We’re so glad we did—because it led us to life with Felix, which we wouldn’t trade for anything.

For parents-to-be who are still waiting, we say: just keep showing up, living your best lives, and being your best, open-hearted selves, and your match will be here before you know it, perhaps when you least expect it.

Eric and Andreas

“Adoption Connection’s intuition, experience, and grace were critical in our journey. Everything has led to this moment when our lives were forever changed.”

We came into the process not knowing much beyond knowing a few friends who’ve adopted in other various processes. Adoption Connection provides every bit of information in their arsenal, including their intuition, experience in previous cases, and grace.

The first bit of advice that we can give you is…Check your expectations and be prepared for a long ride of emotions. Our process started in 2019, taking a few workshops hosted by Adoption Connection. While informative and thorough, they do not prepare you for the roller coaster your emotions and relationships will go through. Be very patient!

This leads to the second bit of advice…Communicate! Communicate with your partner, with the fantastic team at Adoption Connection, and keep in touch with your feelings and expectations. This proved critical in our journey of 2.5 years, with lots of close calls, Zoom calls, and an overly-produced Video Message. We were unsure if the process was working and if we were doing all the “right things.” It was only when we leaned into continuing to live, maintain our relationship, and not focus so hard on controlling the process that we felt at ease and ultimately ended up welcoming the newest member of our family.

We’ll never forget the phone call we received while on Bart, two weeks from when we were supposed to go on a trip to Thailand. We couldn’t hear Michelle, so we yelled that we’d call her back when we got to the next station. The only words we could hear her say were, “we have a baby…” This proved to be the longest 12 min ever! Once we got to the next station, and within minutes we were on our way to the hospital. We arrived 45 min later and instantly fell in love with Tyler. He fits in so well with our family, has quite a personality, and is already running the house.

We wouldn’t change anything; everything has led to this moment when our lives were forever changed. In that instant, all the questions, fears, and doubts melted away.

Our last bit of advice…You won’t know everything. You’re doing just fine. For those who haven’t reached the end of the ride: hang in there, and it’ll come when you least expect it. Plan a trip—that worked for us! LOL

Laurie and Henry

“Our daughter was already here, waiting for us.”

After our profile had been live for about 10 months, and we hadn’t heard anything is when we got the call. We were at work, focused on updating our home study, when the phone rang. Christina delivered news that would change our lives forever: a baby girl had been born the day before and we were the birth mother’s first choice. Our hearts raced as we realized this wasn’t a gradual process of being matched with an expectant mother—our daughter was already here, waiting for us.

In a whirlwind of emotion and activity, we left work immediately and raced to Sacramento. A few hours later, we met our daughter for the first time. Despite our worries about bonding, the moment we held her, it was love at first sight. That night was a blur of shopping for essentials—a Pack ‘n Play for her to sleep in, diapers, formula, and onesies. We checked into a hotel, transforming it into a makeshift nursery as we waited 2 anxious days for the birthmother to finally sign paperwork.

We had plans to visit Disneyland just two weeks after we got the call. We had booked this trip during our waiting period, never imagining what fate had in store.

This unexpected turn of events taught us a valuable lesson—one we’d like to share with other hopeful adoptive parents. Live your life while you wait, but always be prepared for your plans to change in an instant. Make sure everything is refundable—trips, tickets, reservations. Your child may arrive when you least expect it, turning your world upside down in the most beautiful way possible.