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I’M PREGNANT
Unplanned Pregnancy Program
Experiencing an unplanned pregnancy can be difficult and life changing. The caring staff at LSS can help you explore your choices and provide counseling and support.
Why Choose LSS
Lutheran Social Services of the South has been providing services to children and families in Texas since 1881 and specifically to women with unplanned pregnancies since the 1944. Our adoption program has placed more than 7,000 children in permanent loving homes. LSS was the first agency in Texas to offer birth parents openness in the adoption process, and we continue to strive to balance the needs of the children, birth parents, and adoptive parents involved in every adoption we facilitate. LSS recognizes the difficult decisions that women with unplanned pregnancies face. We believe that you have the right to make an informed choice concerning your future and that of the child for whom you are responsible. Through this program, you are helped to identify and evaluate the options available to you, your resources, and the long-term impact of your decision upon yourself, your child, and your family. You are assisted with assessing your own needs in relationship to providing a healthy pre- and post-natal environment for your child and are aided in locating appropriate resources to meet these needs.
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The Program with LSS
- Free, confidential, counseling at a time and place convenient to you
- Help locating resources in your community
- Sensitively planned adoption placement for your child, if you choose
- The ability to name the child on the original birth certificate and spend time with the baby after the birth
- The opportunity to select and meet the adoptive family and have ongoing contact including letters, pictures, and even visitation
- Free, confidential, grief and loss counseling after the adoption
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Contact Us
Call (800) 938-5777 or email us at pregnancyservices@lsss.org to speak with a counselor.
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The Counseling Process
Counseling, called “options counseling,” focuses on assisting you in determining what is best for yourself and your child. A counselor will help you examine your own goals, priorities, and ability to provide for a child, and help you identify the pros and cons of each option available to you. Your counselor will never pressure you to choose one option over another, but is there as a resource to help you make the most informed decision possible. Counseling sessions are scheduled at a time and place convenient for you. Your counselor can also assist you in accessing available community resources to meet your basic needs.
Adoption planning is offered if you decide to pursue this option. This involves selecting and meeting the adoptive family and discussing what sort of ongoing contact you think you would like to have. You are not bound to an adoption plan until after the baby is born and you have signed legal documents. Texas law prohibits the signing of the legal document relinquishing your parental rights so that the baby can be adopted until 48 hours after the birth of the baby. Anytime before signing this legal document, you can still choose to parent your child.
Once you have signed your legal papers, the child can be placed with the adoptive family. Many times, a placement ceremony is held to honor the decision made by the birth parents, and to celebrate the new family created through adoption.
Ongoing support is provided to you following an adoption. Grief and loss counseling is provided as long as needed, at a time and place convenient for you.
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If I Decide to Parent My Baby
Texas law requires that a birth mother wait at least 48 hours after the birth of the baby to sign legal documents regarding the adoption. Birth parents can choose to parent their baby at any point before they sign the legal documents. LSS does not pressure any client into choosing one option over the other. We are here to provide counseling, support, and education to assist you with making whatever decision you feel is best under your circumstances.
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Choosing the Adoptive Parents
You can select the adoptive family, meet the family, and have ongoing contact if this is your desire. If you do not want any openness in the adoption, your wishes will be respected. While LSS does believe openness in adoption provides many benefits to all parties involved, we understand that birth parents deal with their feelings in many different ways, and through our program, you may choose the degree of openness in which you would like to participate.
Family Selection Process For Expectant Parents
The Benefits of Openness in Adoption
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The Birth Father
LSS offers counseling to the father of the baby either individually, or together with you. Providing he is in agreement with the adoption plan, he will sign legal documents consenting to the adoption. If the birth father is not involved in the adoption planning, the law requires the agency to attempt to notify him and gain his consent for the adoption. If he is unavailable, or unwilling to participate in counseling, Texas law has established a legal process through which he can express his desires regarding parenting the child. If he does not express an interest, his rights can be terminated. If there is more than one possible father, Texas law requires that the agency attempt to notify all potential fathers to obtain their consent.
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