Friends in Adoption, Licensed Non-Profit Agency, Defends Reproductive Rights and Highlights Best Practice to Celebrate November - National Adoption Awareness Month

Clifton Park, NY, November 01, 2013 --(PR.com)-- Reproductive rights have once again become a political issue in the news, and Friends in Adoption (FIA), a licensed non-profit agency, serving the northeast with domestic adoption services for more than 30 years, wishes to weigh in. Since its inception, FIA has been a non-profit, pro-choice agency that focuses on helping people make an informed decision without judgment or pressure. FIA’s trained professionals understand that pregnancy decisions are personal, unique to each person or couples’ circumstances, and a private matter.

FIA believes it is important for women and couples facing a pregnancy decision to learn about all their legal options - knowing that they may be considering parenting, adoption, or abortion - and its ethical approach is to listen and provide information and support to those individuals, without telling them which decision they should make. “To truly celebrate November as Adoption Awareness Month, we ask people to respect women’s reproductive rights and view adoption as a legitimate reproductive choice without maligning either of her other two legal choices or aligning adoption with the anti-choice position,” said Dawn Smith-Pliner, founding director of the agency.

FIA is proud of the relationships it has formed with women’s health services across the U.S. It has received referrals from reproductive health centers including Planned Parenthoods for many years. FIA also receives and appreciates referrals from Crisis Pregnancy Centers. One of the reasons that health centers and professionals refer to FIA is because of its stance against reproductive coercion and inclusion of open adoption. FIA is passionate about adoption, cares about the women and couples who call them, and they want each person to make a decision that works best for them. Best practice adoption services provide women and couples with the opportunity to talk with licensed, independent counselors and with specializing adoption attorneys while they make their decision, without being asked to make any commitment to adoption until they are sure.

If a woman or couple chooses adoption, FIA works with them through the decision making processes around selecting an adoptive family, and provides lifelong support to all members in the adoptive circle: birth family, adoptive family, and of course, adopted person. FIA works with all families, and does not discriminate on the basis of race, ethnicity, marital status, age, religion, physical disability, income, sexual orientation, or gender identity/ expression.

FIA recognizes that adoption is a difficult choice. When adoption is the right option for a woman or couple, she can determine the amount of openness she would like in the future and works with the prospective adoptive family to create an adoption plan that works for all involved – keeping as central the best interests of the child.

FIA’s web site at www.friendsinadoption.org contains important information for women and couples facing a pregnancy decision. Learn what to look for in an ethical and established adoption agency. Learn about the values that FIA promotes: empowerment, open adoption, inclusiveness, and lifelong services. We invite members of the local community to become friends in adoption. Happy Adoption Awareness Month 2013.

For more information and to download text and/or high resolution images, go to: www.friendsinadoption.org/press-releases