Independent Adoption Center - 10 Things You Didn't Know About Adoption

26 January 2007 – Pleasant Hill, CA: Independent Adoption Center, the nationally recognized nonprofit education and counseling agency, continues this month with its "10 Things You Might Not Know About Adoption" monthly fact sheets as an education vehicle for the media and general public. A leader in open adoption, Independent Adoption Center (IAC) is nationally recognized as a leader in the field having facilitated almost 4,000 successful adoptions in 35 states. Headquartered in the Northern California town of Pleasant Hill, IAC has southern California offices in Los Angeles, and also operates centers in Indiana, North Carolina and Georgia. IAC will celebrate its 25 anniversary in May 2007.

“These ‘top 10’ lists are the perfect vehicle to help dispel many of the myths and mis-perceptions about open adoption,” said Ann Wrixon, Executive Director of the Independent Adoption Center and herself the mother of an adopted child. “Domestic adoptions are on the rise in the United States. In fact, placements have increased by 8% in the last five years.”

Founded in 1982, IAC has successfully facilitated open adoptions in 35 states and is licensed in the states of California, Indiana, Georgia and North Carolina. As a nonprofit organization, the IAC’s mission is to create open adoptions: that is, a completely voluntary adoption where birth parents select the family they want to adopt their child. It is a viable and accessible alternative to untimely pregnancy throughout the United States.

Following is this month’s “Top 10” list: 10 Things You Didn’t Know About Adoption:

Martin Luther King and his wife, Coretta Scott King, both supported the beliefs of Margaret Sanger, founder of Planned Parenthood, giving women the right to family planning choices.
In 1996, Congress enacted a law that forbids agencies from denying or delaying placement of a child for adoption solely on the basis of race or national origin.
Most states do not have laws that maximize sound family planning decision-making, such as required counseling- California being one of the exceptions.
Over 90% of private adoptions today are open, where birthparents choose the adoptive parents and exchange identifying information.
Very few women who choose open adoption for their child today seek anonymity or express a desire for no ongoing information or contact.
Today, the typical birthmother is in her early 20s, has graduated from high school, and is parenting a child already.
Studies show that concerns that birthparents would attempt to reclaim their children or otherwise intrude on adoptive families' lives are not apparent in families with fully open adoptions.
The Independent Adoption Center (IAC), a licensed open adoption agency, is celebrating 25 years of open adoptions in 2007.
Both men and women who have placed a child for adoption with the IAC participate in support groups where the issues of loss and grief are explored.
Birthparents who place their child for adoption through the IAC have free lifetime professional counseling support available.

For more information, please call 1-800-877-6736 or visit www.adoptionhelp.org.