Any past B-Moms who were students?

I'm not a student but I sure feel ya on the being broke thing. <sigh> Never fun! I would do what broke e-moms who aren't thinking about adoption would do. Start off in your local social services office, see if you qualify for medicade so you can get prenatal services, see if you qualify for WIC or whatever they may call it where you are, which can help with food. Also, see what other services they offer or can link you too. There can be services out there for expectant mothers who are broke, it's the ones that make a little to much but not enough that are kinda in trouble. Then if you are still considering adoption, because it is the best thing for the baby and for you, you can look into adoption agencies because they can often help with birthmom expenses, just be careful about doing that if you aren't really sure that you will go through with the adoption, because you risk breaking peoples hearts and that is never a nice thing. Good luck and please come here and vent, get advice/support, etc, this is a great site full of people who understand what you are going through. :-)

If I were you, I would go into the Financial Aid office at your university and ask for their advice. They'll most likely provide you with a list of financial resources, such as WIC and Medicaid, and point you in the right direction. If you absolutely do not want to raise your baby, I suggest getting ahold of a licensed adoption agency and go in to talk with their counselors.

As stupid as it sounds, I don't have the guts to go to Fin. Aid, an open office, and explain to someone behind a desk my....situation.As for adoption agencies, how do you know which ones are "good" and have a license...I don't want to go to some place that profits off selling babies like you see on "Law and Order"...

you can google adoption agencies and your area to see what pops up. There is a big agency online that I was seriously going to go through, before I went with a private adoption, but I can't for the life of me remember the name, but they have a website that I went to, and I think got the phone number and called them. The lady that I talked to seemed very, very nice and she took the time to answer a lot of my questions. I do love the internet, sooo much info. :-) You can also try looking in your phone book, under adoption to see if anything shows up. You might also look on facebook, try typing in adoption and see if any profiles pop up, I think more and more families are "advertising" via facebook that they are looking to adopt. If you go that route, I guess it would be a private adoption with a lawyer rather than an agency. I have heard good and bad things about both ways. Good luck :-)

Would you feel more comfortable talking with someone at your university's Student Health Center? Talking with a nurse or doctor may not be as intimidating as talking with the financial aid office. As far as adoption agencies go, there are several large ones that have been in business for many decades. Your local telephone directory will list all agencies in your locale. Look them up in the Yellow Pages under "Adoption Agencies." As far as finding an ethical, morally responsible agency...that can be tricky. I'd shy away from any agency that boasts of a high percentage of expectant mothers who go through with relinquishment. An ethical agency will carefully go over ALL your options with you, including pointing you in the right direction for financial assistance if you wish to raise your child. The agencies that brag of 90 or 95 percent relinquishment rates -- run away from them. That means that they're using subtle coercion techniques to get the pregnant women they're dealing with to go through with the relinquishment/adoption. Their completion statistics should be under 70 percent, not in the 90's.

It has been quite awhile, so I thought I would post an update. Anyways, after reading so may sad stories from birthmothers with regrets and upset adoptive parents with failed matches and contested adoptions, I realized I just did not have the strength to have a baby I could not keep. And I wasn't going to mess up my life or other people's lives trying. I live in a state that allowed me other...options, so to speak. In another world, I may have chosen an open adoption if there were more laws protected birthmothers rights to visitation, etc or maybe if there were more support for single moms and there wasn't such a stigma against welfare services I would have chosen to parent, but it does not matter now. Regardless, I am thankful for all the advice I got from everyone here during this difficult time.

I am a birth mother and I did not understand or know all the options that I had. I was certainly very naive about the impact that the adoption process would have on all the parties involved. Whatever your decision was, please take good good care of yourself. I totally support you.