Page 98 - Msingi Afrika Magazine Issue 16

Health & Healing

Legal guardians have custody of the chil-
dren and the authority to make decisions
concerning the protection, education, care,
discipline, etc.

The child is able to maintain family
connections while having the sta-
bility of a permanent home with a
caregiver who has demonstrated a
commitment to caring for the child.

A mother may choose legal guard-
ianship if she is battling an ad-
diction, trying to get away from
an abusive partner, or some other
reason. This hands-off approach
allows the mother to make positive
Regardless of how a baby is creat- adoption, where she chooses how changes in her life before taking care
ed or how healthy he is, his life is much contact she will have with the of her child.
valuable. family. She can get updates on a reg-
ular basis from the adoptive parents. Parenting
Abortion Is More Expensive than She can receive pictures. She may There are many times in life when
Adoption even be able to spend time with the we do things we never thought we
Birth mothers often worry about the child. This allows her to have peace would be able to. Parenting is one
expense of adoption. But the birth of mind that her baby is growing up of them. Even parents who are mar-
mother does not have to pay any- in a stable and loving family. ried and in a stable place financially
thing for the process. Usually, if she worry about whether they will be
goes through an agency, the agency Legal Guardianship good parents, so it’s natural that an
will pay for her medical bills. It can Legal guardianship may be an op- unmarried mother and father or a
even provide food, shelter, and oth- tion for a mother if she needs some single mother will be worried about
er financial assistance if necessary. time to get her life in order before parenting.
she cares for her child. This option
In addition, adoption agencies know does not permanently give her baby Choosing to be a parent is one of
that it can be traumatic to give up to a family, like in an adoption. It the greatest gifts imaginable. How-
a baby. Hence, “organizations like gives the baby a stable place to live ever, the reality is that parenting
American Adoptions will even pay for a period of time. Though the isn’t always easy. In fact, it can be
for counseling for the birth mother guardians do have the right to make extremely difficult.
after the adoption is final.” decisions for the child, the mother
can remain a presence in her child’s That’s why pro-lifers want women
Adoption is called “the loving op- life. to know they aren’t alone and that
tion” because not only does it allow there are people and organizations
the baby to be born, but it gifts a According to the US Department available to help.
mother and a father with a family of Health and Human Services,
they’ve desperately wanted. legal guardianship is: one of the options Crisis Pregnancy Centers
available to parents who are planning for Crisis pregnancy centers exist to
Adoptions today are not like they the care of their children in their absence help moms and their babies. They
were many decades ago. A birth due to a variety of situations, such as offer numerous services, including
mother can look through a list of illness or incarceration. It allows parents to helping women obtain housing or
prospective parents and choose the name a caregiver and to give the caregiver even providing temporary hous-
“perfect” ones for her baby. Further, certain legal rights regarding the care of the ing. These centers offer pre- and
she can choose between a closed child(ren). In most cases, the parents’ legal post-natal care, baby equipment, le-
adoption, where she has no knowl- rights are not terminated and the parents gal assistance, and financial support,
edge of the baby’s life, or an open still play a role in their children’s lives. and many even help women further

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