How would you characterize these statements – positive or negative?
I’m thinking about giving up my baby for adoption
I want to put up my baby for adoption
I can’t decide if I want to keep my baby or give her away
The baby they adopted was illegitimate
The natural parents couldn’t keep him so he was put up for adoption
The baby they adopted is special needs
The baby got taken away from his real parents
In case you’re still wondering – these are all negative statements! Think about how an adopted person might hear these statements, and then search for better ways to express the same concepts. We’ll make it easy for you:
I’m thinking about giving up my baby for adoption
I’m thinking about planning adoption for my baby
I want to put up my baby for adoption
I want to find a family to adopt my baby
I can’t decide if I want to keep my baby or give her away
I can’t decide if I should parent my baby or if I should consider adoption for her
The baby they adopted was illegitimate
The baby they adopted was born to unmarried parents
The natural parents couldn’t keep him so he was put up for adoption
His birth parents chose to plan adoption for him
The baby they adopted is special needs
The baby they adopted has special needs (or ‘has medical concerns’, ‘has developmental delays’, etc.)
The baby got taken away from his real parents
The baby’s birth parents had their parental rights terminated (or ‘voluntarily relinquished their parental rights’)
Words matter! Please help spread the positive message of adoption, by choosing your words carefully…. Ask yourself how what you are about to say will sound to an adopted person, to a birth parent, and to adoptive parents. We can all do our part to present adoption in a positive, and accurate light by using positive adoption language.
