Part 1- The Beginning

For as long as I can remember, Michael and I have always wanted to adopt. After I had Lucy, I started researching and reaching out to people who had adopted. There are many ways to go about adoption. You can adopt internationally, go through foster care, or adopt within the United States.

I was mostly interested in adopting a newborn in the United States, but wanted to explore our options. That is when I connected with Jasmine Pierce. She worked at CFS, and I knew she would have a lot of information for me. Also, it was just an added bonus that we knew each other in high school.

I had no idea then how our story would unravel and how Jasmine would ultimately bring us to our baby boy.

Part 2- The Process

Fast forward to January 2020, two years after I had done my research, connected with Jasmine to learn more about adoption and was ready to start the process. We were still undecided on which avenue to take. We were torn between doing Foster Care and Domestic Adoption.

We completed all of our Foster Care paperwork and even had our first visit with a DCFS caseworker before we decided to do Domestic Adoption instead. I knew I wanted one more baby and the thought of Foster Care scared me. I was afraid to get attached and heartbroken. I had so many people say that if my goal was to adopt and ONLY adopt, then foster care wasn’t the best option. The goal of Foster Care is always to reunite, and that’ s just not where my heart was.

I called Illini Christian Ministries to do our home study  in October 2020. There was a lot of paperwork, home visits, Zoom meetings, and just a lot of waiting. I had been searching for Adoption Agencies in Illinois for so long and I was having trouble finding an agency that would let us choose a gender. Jasmine finally asked me why I wasn’t working with CFS, because they do allow you to choose gender.

That’s when we started all the paperwork and process of being able to adopt through CFS. Our home study was finally complete in May of 2021 and we were officially a waiting family with CFS.

~ Brittnay, Adoptive Mom

Are you facing an unplanned pregnancy and wondering what you’re going to do? We are ready to answer your call or text to discuss judgment free options with you. Call or text 24/7 to speak to a case worker.  

Contacting and/or meeting with CFS does NOT, in any way, make you committed to working with us or creating an Adoption Plan.

Call or Text: 352-378-6202