A Sunrise counselor can help you:

 

• Explore your choices to determine the best decision for you and your baby.

• Identify parenting resources that are available to you.

• Explore family support and friend support for parenting or adoption.

• Understand the details of the adoption process.

• Develop an adoption plan, if adoption is your choice.

• By guiding and supporting you during your pregnancy.

• Support you around family members and friends who are not supportive of your decision.

• By providing post-adoption counselling after placement.

 

 

BIRTH PARENT SUPPORT GROUP

 

Sunrise has a support group for birth parents. Many birth parents have found this connection to be helpful in normalizing their experience and feelings. Learning about and understanding the experience of others, who have been where you are, can be helpful in your process. Some birth parents have established lifelong connections.

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WHAT DO MOST BIRTH PARENTS CHOOSE?

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No one size fits all. When considering openness, we hope you will think about your needs and your child’s needs in the short term, in the mid-term, and in the long term. Your counsellor will help you figure out what level of openness is right for you. Some birth parents initially feel that ongoing contact will be too painful and difficult while other birth parents know they want ongoing contact with the family from the beginning. Our experience is that feelings may change over time, so we will help you consider all of the possibilities. 

 

The Sunrise staff will support you throughout your decision-making process. You will have a chance to view the profile of every adoptive family registered with Sunrise. There are many families from every walk of life, with diverse interests, belief systems, and backgrounds. All of our families have been assessed through an in depth homestudy process, during which they are interviewed by a social worker over a period of months. They complete criminal record checks, ministry prior contact checks and medical checks. You can select a family that shares your beliefs, goals, dreams, and hopes for your child. 

HOSPITAL STAY-PLAN

 

Our birth-parent counsellor will work with you to develop a hospital-stay plan. This plan will detail your requests and wishes during your stay in hospital, and after the baby is born. A hospital stay-plan can be helpful in structuring what you are looking for in terms of time spent with the baby, and gives the adopting parents, agency counsellor, and hospital staff, the ability to know and respect your wishes. The stay-plan can be fluid and you can change your mind at any time during your adoption process.