Adoption in Pinellas County

Pinellas county Florida unplanned pregnancy help
If you are pregnant and considering adoption in Pinellas County, please know you are not alone. We can help you learn how a free, customized adoption plan may be the best choice for you and your baby.

Lifetime Adoption is a private adoption agency, licensed by the Florida Department of Children and Families – it is not foster care. Lifetime Adoptions are created by the biological mother of the baby, which means that you make the choices for your baby.

You can choose:

  • The parents for your baby. You choose from safe, approved families here in Florida or across the United States. Lifetime works with families across the country. There are adopting parents of all races and all types available.

  • The type of contact after the adoption you want. You may want to just stay in touch by mail or email, or you might want to consider getting together in person as your baby grows up.

  • To get help with expenses. If you need help with pregnancy-related bills, like rent, utilities, transportation, food, or medical expenses, you can receive help.

  • How things go at the hospital. You decide if you want to see or hold your baby. You can name your baby. You can decide who is with you in the delivery room. It’s all up to you!

  • Counseling options that fit your needs. Lifetime has counselors available to talk to you by phone, in the evening if that is what you’d like. Peer counselors are available too, so you can talk to someone who has been where you are.

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  • Where you’d like to meet us. We can come to you, you can come to us, or we can do everything by phone! We want to make this as easy as we can for you.

TEXT

1-800-923-6784

E-MAIL

CALL

1-800-923-6784

TEXT

1-800-923-6784

E-MAIL

CALL

1-800-923-6784
Pinellas county adoption and pregnancy choices
Even if you don’t know for sure that adoption is what you want, we can help you learn about what it might look like for you and your baby. Call or Text now at 1-800-923-6784 to get private, confidential help for your situation.
 
If you would like to visit our office, we are located at 6640 Congress St., Suite101, just 25 minutes up the road from Tarpon Springs and Lake Tarpon. Or, we can come meet you at a coffee shop or for lunch, in a place where we can have a private conversation about adoption. We can travel to you anywhere, whether you are Downtown St. Pete, near Coachman Park, or even out on Honeymoon Island. Just give us a call so we can help you get the answers you need.

How Does Adoption Work in Pinellas County?

We want to make it easy for you to receive caring, confidential help for your pregnancy. We do this through an easy adoption process for you:
 

  1. Talk to us: You can reach out by phone or text and we can just talk over the phone, or schedule a time to meet up. We want to answer your questions and explain about the choices you have.

  2. Choose a family or let us pick: It is important to us that your wishes for your child are a priority. We can show you waiting parents and you can talk to or email them if you want before you decide. If you’d rather us choose, we can do that, but you can still tell us your desires, such as race, where they live, special interests, and more!

  3. Get the help you need: If you need financial assistance, counseling, transportation, clothing or medical help, we will make sure you get it! We can help in a variety of ways and want to be there for you.

    4.  

  4. Complete the paperwork: We will help you every step of the way through completing the required documents.

      5. Take the first step and call or text us today. There is no obligation and we want to be here for you, to get you the answers and help you are looking for.

      adoption in Pinellas county

      Adoption in Pinellas County

      There is a lot of adoption help for women looking into finding adoptive families for their child here in Pinellas County. And we are proud to offer a 24-Hour Pinellas County Adoption Hotline for women, from Palm Harbor to St. Petersburg, Indian Rocks Beach to Pinellas Park. No matter where you live in the state of Florida, we can help you!
       

      Hospitals:

      We have helped women with adoption who call from Pinellas County Hospitals including Northside Hospital, Mease Dunedin Hospital, Morton Plant Hospital, and Largo Med. Some just visited the emergency room and discovered they were pregnant, others were late in pregnancy.

      Recently, we helped a mother make and adoption plan who had just delivered at Bayfront Hospital. She called, simply saying “I delivered a little boy at Bayfront about an hour ago. I was thinking about adoption but never got around to calling you. Is it too late?”

      We were able to be at the hospital in 30 minutes with the paperwork she needed as well as photos and letters from Florida families waiting to adopt. She was able to choose the family and they came directly to the hospital to meet with her and the baby. It worked out smoothly, because it is never too late to choose adoption.

      help for Pinellas county unplanned pregnancies in schools

      Schools:

      If you are in high school (or an alternative school), choosing adoption can be scary, especially if your parents don’t know you are pregnant (or even having sex!). We have experience working with pregnant teens as young as 12-years-old as well as their parents if they are involved.
      We’ve helped teens at Clearwater High, both Northeast and East Lake High Schools, as well as alternative schools in Pinellas County, such as PACE Center for Girls and Pinellas Gulf Coast Academy.
      Recently, we helped a student who was a senior at St. Petersburgh High School who discovered she was pregnant around Christmas time. It was important for her to graduate with her class, but she wasn’t ready to be a mom and did not want an abortion. She reached out to us and were able to help her choose a family for her baby, as well as give her the help and support she needed throughout her pregnancy. We even helped her with the words to tell her parents that she was pregnant. She is now enrolled at Eckerd College and proud of her decision to choose adoption.

      Pregnancy Help Centers:

      There are several pregnancy help centers in Pinellas County that we work directly with to ensure women get the help they need. In fact, one of the most common questions we hear is “Where do I get a pregnancy test?” We often refer them to clinics that provide free pregnancy tests and other help such as A Woman’s Place, a pregnancy center serving both Pinellas and Hillsborough Counties.

      Rachel, a single mother, came to us after confirming her pregnancy at a similar clinic. She had just completed a case plan with DCF and regained custody of her daughter from foster care. The pregnancy was definitely not planned, but she wanted to give her child a stable home and family through adoption. She needed help with expenses though, mostly transportation and living expenses while she took time off work to have the baby and recover. She was able to choose a family up near Orlando who were bi-racial, the same as her little boy. She has an open adoption and both of her children can be a part of each other’s life.

      Case Plans and Interventions:

      For mothers (and others) who are involved with the Florida Department of Children and Family because they have had a child removed from their custody and placed into foster care, we can help them choose adoption too. Sometimes people aren’t aware that an open adoption plan is still an option even though they are involved with DCF.

      Suzanne stopped by our office because she had three children in foster care and her case manager had mentioned the option of an “intervention”. She wanted to know what adoption might look like for her children. She had quite a few questions, like “Can my children stay together? Will I be able to stay in touch with my kids? Can I pick the family?” We were able to answer her questions and work directly with her case manager to work out a plan for an intervention. Suzanne chose a Lifetime family and spoke with them about the children and her hopes for their future.

Pinellas County Adoption Questions and Answers

Here are some questions we’ve answered recently for Pinellas County pregnant moms and adoptive families. Got a question for us? Send us an email!

Adoption in Pinellas county
I’m homeless. Can I still make an adoption plan?
Yes! We can come meet with you, buy you lunch, and work on the paperwork together. We can help you find some stability throughout your pregnancy and make a plan for after you deliver too. We have recently met with pregnant women who are homeless near Downtown Tarpon Springs, Ulmerton, even near the Skyway. We are happy to meet with you.
What do I have to know to find a family for my baby?
We can help share how a Florida adoption can work for you. We will explain the adoption process and how things will go at the hospital for you and your baby. You can choose a family from a wide variety of waiting couples who have completed the “home study” process, which is another name for very advance background checks and home visits, to ensure they are ready and safe to adopt. There are waiting couples to adopt of all races, from all states, and who have all different interests. You can choose or we can choose for you. They are all open to having contact after the adoption so you can get updates on how your baby is.
Can I pick a family for my children in Florida foster care?
Yes! This is called an “intervention” and we can help you with that. We will work with your case manager to get the details of your case, but many women are able to create this type of adoption. It means that you can choose a family and stay in touch with your children. If you don’t do an intervention and your children are adopted through foster care after your rights are terminated, normally you do not have a say in the family who adopts your child, nor do you receive updates. Please reach out to us right away so we can help before it’s too late.
I feel like a bad mom because I’m pregnant and I don’t want my baby. Can I do a closed adoption?
Yes! You don’t have to have contact afterwards if you don’t want to. It’s your choice. And not wanting to raise a baby doesn’t make you a bad mom. There are many reasons to choose adoption and there are no wrong reasons. You will be able to provide a stable, loving home for your baby, which makes you a very good mom! Loving mothers choose adoption, and even though you may not feel that way, it is the truth.
Can’t I just do Safe Haven after I have the baby?
You can, but that is not the same as making an adoption plan. When you choose Safe Haven, you give up your baby, along with the ability to choose anything for your baby or receive updates. You can call us and do a Last Minute Adoption – it is easy and you just have to meet with an attorney to sign the papers. There is no cost to you, and you still have a say in choosing the adoptive parents and getting updates as your child grows up if you desire.
I’m in Dunedin right now, but I’m moving to Clearwater. Can I work with you if I stay in Pinellas County?
We can work with you anywhere! We have our adoption agency office headquarters in New Port Richey, but can drive and meet with you anywhere. For women outside the Pasco and Pinellas areas, we provide 24 hour help and assistance via phone and text. We are able to work in every state and US Territory. Please don’t worry about where you are, know that we can work with any woman who wants to make an adoption plan.
I’m due really soon and haven’t done anything. Is it too late to do adoption?
No, it’s never too late. You can call us today or from the hospital and get everything lined up. We will meet you at the hospital and bring info on families, or we can text links to you so you can still make the same choices of picking the family and having contact. Our Florida adoption hotline, 1-800-923-6784, is answered 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It’s never too late to make an adoption plan.
I’m staying with a friend in Oldsmar with my 2-year-old and have been thinking about adoption for him. Do you have families that want to adopt older kids?
Yes! We have many families who are hoping to adopt children who are up 5 years old and older. The process is very similar, the only exception being a transition time for you, your child, and the adoptive family you’ve chosen. You will all spend time together, building a relationship for the future, this usually takes place over the course of a week. Every situation is different and we work to support you through the process including counseling if you desire. Most importantly, it’s okay to reach out and learn about adoption for your child. There is no obligation and we want to support you.
Pregnancy questions answered in Pinellas county

Get Help Now for Your Adoption in Pinellas County

 

 
Remember, everything is confidential and we are here to help you.

Pinellas County Adoption Questions and Answers

Here are some questions we’ve answered recently for Pinellas County pregnant moms and adoptive families. Got a question for us? Send us an email!

Pinellas county pregnancy questions
I’m homeless. Can I still make an adoption plan?
Yes! We can come meet with you, buy you lunch, and work on the paperwork together. We can help you find some stability throughout your pregnancy and make a plan for after you deliver too. We have recently met with pregnant women who are homeless near Downtown Tarpon Springs, Ulmerton, even near the Skyway. We are happy to meet with you.
What do I have to know to find a family for my baby?
We can help share how a Florida adoption can work for you. We will explain the adoption process and how things will go at the hospital for you and your baby. You can choose a family from a wide variety of waiting couples who have completed the “home study” process, which is another name for very advance background checks and home visits, to ensure they are ready and safe to adopt. There are waiting couples to adopt of all races, from all states, and who have all different interests. You can choose or we can choose for you. They are all open to having contact after the adoption so you can get updates on how your baby is.
Can I pick a family for my children in Florida foster care?
Yes! This is called an “intervention” and we can help you with that. We will work with your case manager to get the details of your case, but many women are able to create this type of adoption. It means that you can choose a family and stay in touch with your children. If you don’t do an intervention and your children are adopted through foster care after your rights are terminated, normally you do not have a say in the family who adopts your child, nor do you receive updates. Please reach out to us right away so we can help before it’s too late.
I feel like a bad mom because I’m pregnant and I don’t want my baby. Can I do a closed adoption?
Yes! You don’t have to have contact afterwards if you don’t want to. It’s your choice. And not wanting to raise a baby doesn’t make you a bad mom. There are many reasons to choose adoption and there are no wrong reasons. You will be able to provide a stable, loving home for your baby, which makes you a very good mom! Loving mothers choose adoption, and even though you may not feel that way, it is the truth.
Pregnancy and adoption questions Pinellas county
 
Can’t I just do Safe Haven after I have the baby?
You can, but that is not the same as making an adoption plan. When you choose Safe Haven, you give up your baby, along with the ability to choose anything for your baby or receive updates. You can call us and do a Last Minute Adoption – it is easy and you just have to meet with an attorney to sign the papers. There is no cost to you, and you still have a say in choosing the adoptive parents and getting updates as your child grows up if you desire.
I’m in Dunedin right now, but I’m moving to Clearwater. Can I work with you if I stay in Pinellas County?
We can work with you anywhere! We have our adoption agency office headquarters in New Port Richey, but can drive and meet with you anywhere. For women outside the Pasco and Pinellas areas, we provide 24 hour help and assistance via phone and text. We are able to work in every state and US Territory. Please don’t worry about where you are, know that we can work with any woman who wants to make an adoption plan.
I’m due really soon and haven’t done anything. Is it too late to do adoption?
No, it’s never too late. You can call us today or from the hospital and get everything lined up. We will meet you at the hospital and bring info on families, or we can text links to you so you can still make the same choices of picking the family and having contact. Our Florida adoption hotline, 1-800-923-6784, is answered 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It’s never too late to make an adoption plan.
I’m staying with a friend in Oldsmar with my 2-year-old and have been thinking about adoption for him. Do you have families that want to adopt older kids?
Yes! We have many families who are hoping to adopt children who are up 5 years old and older. The process is very similar, the only exception being a transition time for you, your child, and the adoptive family you’ve chosen. You will all spend time together, building a relationship for the future, this usually takes place over the course of a week. Every situation is different and we work to support you through the process including counseling if you desire. Most importantly, it’s okay to reach out and learn about adoption for your child. There is no obligation and we want to support you.

Get Help Now for Your Adoption in Pinellas County

 

 
Remember, everything is confidential and we are here to help you.