Want to Adopt?
Crisis Pregnancy Outreach is a licensed Oklahoma Adoption Agency. Our primary mission is to provide love and assistance to young women and their children. It is from this mission that the adoption services were birthed.
We have high respect and compassion for each courageous woman who makes an adoption plan for her child. Making an adoption plan is not about not loving her baby; it is about loving her baby so much, she is willing to live separately from her baby so the child can have certain benefits — like a stable, two-parent home — that she is not in the position to provide.
Crisis Pregnancy Outreach provides FAMILIES FOR BABIES, not babies for families.
An open adoption includes the full disclosure of identifying information between the birth parent(s) and the adoptive parents. We strongly encourage and support on-going, in-person relationships between the adoptive family, the child, and the birth family.
CPO focuses on promoting open adoption as one of the most effective solutions to matching the needs of women, not in a position to provide a proper home for an unborn child, with families wanting to provide that loving home.
CPO was a pioneer in Oklahoma for open adoptions.
Crisis Pregnancy Outreach works with potential adoptive families who:
- Are committed Christians
- Understand and embrace the concept of Open Adoptions
- Have undergone a Home Study done by a Licensed Social Worker in the state in which they reside
- Promise that one parent will be at home full-time until the child is in at least First Grade
- Promise that they will allow and provide as much contact with the birth mother as SHE desires
- Have been married for no less than three (3) years
- Not only live in Oklahoma, but many other states as well
- Do not smoke cigarettes. The health problems associated with second-hand smoke are many and well documented.
CPO's Adoption Process
We are thrilled you are considering Crisis Pregnancy Outreach as your adoption agency. The following information will provide you with a general overview of our adoption process.
Application & Initial Meeting
After completing and submitting the CPO adoption application and application fee, Cheryl will e-mail you to let you know when your application has been accepted. She will also e-mail you the instructions on preparing your Life Book. After you have completed your Life Book, Cheryl will ask that you contact her to set up an initial meeting with both of you. This is an opportunity for you and Cheryl to get to know each other. At the meeting, Cheryl will review Agency policies and requirements. You will be able to ask any questions that you might have.
Once your application has been approved, you will be required to begin the home study process. During this time, you should be reading the required books, and attending the monthly adoptive family support group meetings. An adoption mentor will be assigned to you and you are encouraged to get a start on your volunteer hours.
Required Reading:
- Children of Open Adoption by Kathleen Silber, Patricia Martinez Dorner. ISBN 0-93172-2780
- Arms Wide Open by Jane Waters ISBN: 1420878549
- Because I Loved You: A Birthmother's View of Open Adoption by Patricia Dischler ISBN: 1595980423
Recommended Reading:
- The Baby Book by Dr. William Sears and Martha Sears ISBN 0-31677-8001
Home Study
The purpose of an adoptive home study is to approve a family for adoptive placement. Federal adoption laws require a home study for all adoptions. The home study is reviewed by the adoption agency, attorneys, and the judge.
Home studies are performed by social workers with specialized training. A home study is an in-home interview with the social worker and the adoptive couple, as well as brief interviews with elementary or older age children. The discussion includes childhood backgrounds, marriage, parenting and adoption issues, religion, employment and finances and extended family.
Supporting documents must be collected: employment verification, copies of insurance cards, medical reports, marriage license, as well as three reference letters from friends, pastors, etc. Criminal and child abuse background checks are performed as well as fingerprinting. The completed home study is a report, which is current for one year.
CPO does not perform the home study but does have referral information for social workers licensed to perform home studies in the state in which you live.
Life Book
The purpose of a life book is to assist a birthmother in choosing a family with whom to place her child. After looking at your life book, a birthmother should feel like she knows you. Keep one copy of your life book, if you wish, because, once you are chosen by a birthmother, she will keep the life book.
There is no set format for a life book because it should be as unique as you are. Your life book is a wonderful opportunity to be creative in portraying your family. If you don't feel that you are creative, find a friend or family member who can help you. If your fields of interest and expertise are not grammar, spelling and punctuation, please have someone else proof what you write. Below are some ideas and information we would like you to include:
Please include an autobiography of both husband and wife, including information on where you grew up, your siblings and extended family, education, occupation, hobbies, talents, interests, and your relationship with the Lord. Please include why you desire to adopt a child. The text can be broken up and placed by appropriate pictures. Some refer to this as a "Dear Birthmother" letter. It does not have to be in letter format.
Pictures, pictures, and more pictures! Lots of well-labeled pictures (snapshots) are a must. You may want to include individual pictures of each of you, wedding pictures, couple shots, vacations, holidays, your children (if you have some), pets, your home, the nursery, each of you doing your favorite hobby or sport, and your extended family. Action shots are always great.
Please make sure to put a current picture of you and your child/children (If you already have one/some!) on the first page. We have received life books where the girl is looking at all sorts of pictures of random family members, before she finally finds a picture of the couple and their kiddos. We have seen girls get frustrated and just toss these books aside. We don't want that to happen to yours!!
Presentation
We have made the decision to ask couples to make their life books online, using www.shutterfly.com, and they are beautiful. You receive a professionally bonded copy, which is eye-catching and profiles very well. You can have a copy sent directly to Cheryl. We have no preference on which size that you choose to make. We feel that having all of the books in the shutterfly style will level the playing field, so to speak. Your books will be sturdier and will weather the wear and tear that they are often subjected to as we cart them to birth moms' homes, the hospital, etc. If a birth mom's toddler touches them with sticky fingers, it will be no problem as they wipe off very easily.
Font Size
Please do not use a font smaller than 12, and 14 seems to profile better. If the font is too small, I have send girls toss the books aside, as reading them seems to be too laborious. Please do not use the fonts that look like script. They are difficult for some girls to read.
We hope that this will turn out to be a fun experience for you. Please do not spend hours stressing about what you include in your book. We often have a girl choose a family because she likes the sports team they like, has vacationed where they vacation, or had a cat that looked just like their cat.
Adoption Support
- Adoption Mentor
We will match you with a couple that can answer your myriad of questions as you walk out your process through adoption.
- Adoption Support Group Meetings
Monthly meetings where you can both meet people who understand you because they have shared experiences. This group really gets "it." Share, ask questions, hear real stories, and learn from seasoned adoptive couples.
- Waiting Families Workshop
Our semi-annual Waiting Families' Workshop is an excellent introduction to CPO and the Open Adoption process. The Workshop sessions are conducted by the professionals who have partnered with CPO, experienced volunteers, and seasoned adoptive couples who have "walked the walk."
The presenters provide pertinent information while they share the good, the bad, and the ugly. You will laugh, you might cry, but most of all you will glean an understanding of the heart of CPO and the adoption process. Completion of one Waiting Families' Workshop, by husband and wife, is a CPO requirement before finalization of your adoption.
Volunteer
One of CPO's requirements before finalization for in-Tulsa Area couples is the completion of 100 hours of volunteer work with the Agency. This requirement can be fulfilled by one or both spouses. There are many areas where you can lend your services and your expertise. For a list of volunteer opportunities, please refer to the Volunteer Page on this website.
Volunteering helps not only CPO but you as the adoptive couple. By getting involved, you get an opportunity to minister to the wonderful young women CPO serves and to develop friendships with other waiting families and adoptive couples.
Matching Process
Once you submit your life book, we will begin profiling your book to Birth Moms that we believe will be a good match. Quite often, a Birth Mom will select two or three couples to interview. This is an opportunity for both of you to meet and ask each other questions in a neutral setting. If you are chosen, you will be notified immediately. You can now begin the process of getting to know each other by spending time together. The first half of the agency fee will now be due to CPO.
After you have been matched, you will meet with CPO's adoption attorney to discuss the legal process. At this time, the attorney will require a retainer fee.
You will meet with the CPO counselor alone and with your Birth Mom, During your counseling session(s), you will discuss requirements, expectations, and emotions surrounding open adoption.
Depending upon how far long she is in her pregnancy, your Birth Mother might invite you to attend her medial appointments, and/or invite you to attend her weekly Birth Mother Support Group Meetings.
We are here to help you through the entire adoption process.
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