When we went through Angel Adoption with Carolyn and Sharon, we felt completely comfortable talking with them and working with them! They are really easy to talk to!

This will be the best holiday ever. Thanks to you both. You have truly blessed us! Wishing you and your families a safe and healthy holiday!

We can't thank you enough for our miracle baby. May God bless you and shine His face upon you.

"Thank you" doesn't even begin to cover what we have to say, but Thank You! As I told our birthmom, we are now "complete" having Kaleah.

We are the proud parents of a little boy whom was guided to us through Angel Adoptions. Our experience with them was fantastic.

After speaking with Carolyn and Sharon at Angel Adoption about our concerns, they assured us that we were good people and could provide a great environment for a child. We decided that we would give...

We had a wonderful experience with Angel Adoption. Angel Adoption called one Monday and told me they had a four-day-old baby and no home. By that Saturday she was in our arms and now is...

Words cannot express what it means to be unable to have children when you really want them, but Angel Adoption was our salvation. After enduring six years of infertility treatments, we decided adoption was the...

We had a wonderful stay with the birthparents at the hospital and we were labeled the hospital's poster people for adoption, because of the wonderful friendship we had with them.

We had a wonderful stay with the birthparents at the hospital and we were labeled the hospital's poster people for adoption, because of the wonderful friendship we had with them.

We are so happy! We thank Kathy too for all of her hard work. She was always so sweet to talk to. Thank you again for our "Angel Baby."

Thank you for bringing Grace to us! Your warmth and sympathy along the way helped smooth the rough edges.

Words cannot begin to express how thankful we are for you. We have waited for such a long time for this dream to come true & now it finally has! We wanted to...

Thank you so much for helping to bring Drew into our lives. He has been an absolute joy and the perfect baby. Words cannot express the gratitude we feel towards Angel Adoption. This...

The words “thank you” seem so inadequate when we think about what you both have done for us. Because of you we now have a beautiful baby girl to call our own. Olivia...

The miracle would never have happened without the guidance, persistence, and prayers of you and your truly remarkable organization. Right from the first meeting we believed that God had put our family in...
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Adoption Language

First introduced by Minneapolis social worker Marietta Spencer more than 30 years ago, positive adoption language is crafted to give the maximum respect, dignity, responsibility, and objectivity about the decisions made by both birthparents and adoptive parents in discussing the family planning decisions they have made for children who have been adopted. By using positive adoption language, we help abolish the old stereotype that adoption is second best – a dirty little secret that everyone knows about.

If you stop and really think about what you’re saying, positive adoption language is just common sense. For example, take terms such as real parent, real mother, real father, real family – these terms imply that an adopted child is not a real part of the family. By using phrases like this, you are invalidating both the child being a “real” part of the family and the “realness” of the family itself.

Through the use of positive adoption language, we educate others about adoption. By consistently speaking (and writing) in positive adoption language, someday this language will become commonplace. When we use positive adoption language, we say that adoption, like birth, is just another way to build a family. Both are important, but one is not necessarily better than the other.

There Are Better Ways to Say What You Mean

The old clichés "give up" and "put up for adoption" can slip out of our mouths almost unnoticed. However, are these phrases really accurate descriptions of what takes place when parents choose adoption? Of course not – no one who has gestated a child for nine months can cavalierly “give away” that child! Much heart-wrenching thought and soul searching goes into the decision to choose adoption for your child. Yes, parents do "give up" their parental rights, but do not give up on their child or give up loving their child. Saying that they “gave up” their child for adoption stigmatizes birthparents for deciding they aren't ready or able to parent. Saying that birthparents “gave up” their child is akin to saying that the birthparents made the wrong choice, when in fact, the birthparents made an incredibly strong choice by putting their child ahead of themselves.

Instead of contributing to the use of these outdated and hurtful clichés, those of us touched by adoption can do something to change the world for the better by using positive adoption language. We may have to go through a period of retraining our own minds and hearts while we carefully choose the words we use to describe adoption. We may need to (gently) correct and educate our family, our friends, and our co-workers. As we become more accustomed to using positive adoption language, we'll discover that this way of speaking about adoption will feel just as natural as the old hurtful clichés once did – and hearing the old clichés will offend us as much as a racial slur.

What we say and the words we use, communicate a lot about our values. The conscious and consistent use of positive adoption language affirms that adoption is as valid a way to build a family as birth. Choose positive adoption language instead of the negative phrases that helps perpetuate the myth that adoption is second best. By using positive adoption language you'll reflect the true nature of adoption!