To the editors:
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The story rests heavily on the notion that, to quote from an early paragraph, “If [people wishing to adopt] want an open adoption, where they and the birth mother meet and perhaps keep in touch after the birth, they must [your Italics] adopt privately.” Here and elsewhere, we’re given the message that all agencies are monolithic and inflexible.
The ability for young women to have so much say in placing their children is one reason for the growth of Sunny Ridge, which now places about 100 infants a year. Birth mothers receive the counseling and post-placement support which, as your article notes, is often missing in private adoptions. The system apparently works: the agency’s largest share of referrals now comes from other birth mothers who have placed children there. Although it has a Christian orientation, Sunny Ridge does serve Jewish couples, as well as couples interested in interracial adoption and singles wishing to adopt.
