Working with Bright Futures Adoption Center
What Parents Considering Adoption Need to Know About Working With Bright Futures:
Bright Futures Adoption Center will help you understand and consider all of your options (parenting your child, having a family member or someone else you know parent, or making an adoption plan), and will provide counseling and support to help you make an informed decision.
We will not pressure you in any way to choose adoption or any other option. There is no “right” or “wrong” choice; there is only the one you feel is best for you and your child, given where you are in your life right now and with an understanding of the impact of your decision for the future.
All services provided by Bright Futures Adoption Center in connection with making your decision, and during the adoption process if you choose that option, are free of charge.
You have all of the rights set forth under Birth Parent Rights.
If you decide to make an adoption plan, you will have the opportunity to review pictures and letters from prospective adoptive parents approved by Bright Futures Adoption Center and to select a family you’d like to get to know better.
After you have had the chance to speak to and/or meet those prospective parents (and ask them questions), you will let us know if you feel comfortable moving to the next step, which is making an adoption plan with that family.
If you do not feel comfortable, you may choose another family to get to know until you find one that feels right for you.
Bright Futures Adoption Center is legally required to make the final determination about any adoptive placement, to ensure that it’s in the best interests of the child. We rarely suggest a choice other than the one you make, however, and you are legally entitled to change your mind about the adoption if you don’t feel comfortable with it.
If you enter into an agreement with the adoptive parents (regarding ongoing contact or any other matter), Bright Futures Adoption Center cannot legally enforce any such agreement.
If you choose adoption, Bright Futures Adoption Center will help you make an adoption plan that works for you. As part of this process, our policy is to ask if you wish to be contacted in the future if your child is ever in need of care or assistance.
Bright Futures Adoption Center will do its best to respect your wishes, whatever they are, while acting in the best interests of your child.
Please note that under Massachusetts law, children born after January 1, 2008, and their adoptive parents may access the child’s original birth certificate – with all the information you include on that document. Typically, a birth certificate includes your full name, date and place of the child’s birth, and sometimes your address.
