Section #8: The Hospital Experience

The hospital experience for prospective adoptive parents depends on the hospital plan developed by the expecting birth parent during the adoption process. This looks different for every adoption.

What is the hospital plan?

The hospital plan is prepared by the prospective birth parent with the help of their adoption coordinator at the agency.

A hospital plan is a document that provides an outline of what to expect during the hospital stay for all parties involved in an adoption process including but not limited to: attorneys, hospital staff, social workers and the prospective adoptive family.

The hospital plan outlines the prospective parent's anticipated expectations of the interaction between the prospective adoptive family and themselves at the hospital. For example, who will be involved and at what capacity during labor and delivery, time spent alone or shared with the baby after birth, what documents or mementos the birth parents want to take home, preferences regarding baby’s initial vaccinations, or circumcision of a baby boy and what hospital discharge may look like.

A birth parent has the right to make changes to a hospital plan at any time. A hospital plan is a beneficial tool that provides prospective birth parents the autonomy to decide how they prefer the hospital experience to transpire ahead of time and the prospective adoptive family knows what to expect before arriving at the hospital.

Working together with an adoption coordinator from Adoption & Beyond, these decisions can be made early on, so everyone has an organized well-thought-out hospital experience.