Adoption still has an air of mystery and is often misunderstood.

Many people are quick to judge mothers who place their children for adoption even though it truly is one of the most self-less acts in the world. And people sometimes question couples who decide to open their hearts to children who need a loving and stable home.

We reached out to moms of the mom.life community and asked if they were personally touched by adoption. We were completely touched and inspired by the comments we received.

Here are 12 heartwarming adoption stories from the mom.life community.💕

I am adopted. My bio-mom was 21 when she gave me up for adoption. When I found out at 16 that I was adopted, I was angry, hurt, betrayed, abandoned and confused. My parents had been keeping it a secret and everybody else in my family. At the time I didn’t realize that my parents loved me so much that they wanted me all to their selves and didn’t want me to feel not part of the family. For years I had this hatred of how I was told and how could they lie to me.

At 20 years old, my bio-mom found me on Facebook and wrote me. Tear’s came to my eyes and I looked just like her. I met her a year later and she wanted the best life for me and I couldn’t thank her enough. I understood that the situation was not right and that she did the most self-less act you could ever make for your child. MAKING THEIR NEEDS FIRST BEFORE YOUR OWN. I have a wonderful relationship with her. I have siblings and a whole new family. My mom still wants me to herself but she understands and takes it day by day. When people say they don’t believe in adoption that’s fine. They are entitled to their opinion and they just don’t understand giving up your child is hard. You go everyday without your other half. You get reminded of them by everything. You second guess yourself and hope that he or she will have a better life then you could give.

We are hoping to adopt child #2 after a year of trying with PCOS. people keep asking why we’re giving up so soon, but mothering a child is the same regardless of where they originate, right? Why not grow our family not only by a baby, but by a birth family too? We’re excited for our journey! ❤

I am adopted and I gave my son up for adoption almost 11 years ago. Mine was closed. His is open. I was adopted at 11 months old and my parents have always told me the truth about it. Because of my biological mom’s unselfish decision to give me up I was given the life my biological family was unable to provide me. I grew up in a stable loving environment that was free of abuse and substance dependence. When my son was born I was young and in the midst of a horrible addiction. His dad and I were not able to take care of ourselves let alone a baby. I was also on my way to prison. So rather then drag my son through my messed up life and through the foster care system I choose to give him the life I knew he deserved. The life my own biological mother had once given me. I choose a family through the Nebraska Children’s Home and gave them my son to raise as their own. Now that I am older and have finally gotten my act together I see him regularly and get to watch him grow up. He is well adjusted and very much loved. I know the decision I made was extremely difficult and it still hurts sometimes but I am at peace with it and have been since the day I placed him in his mom’s arms.

Not everyone chooses to get pregnant. There’s rape, there’s parents that feel like their baby would have a better life with someone else, there’s people that aren’t ready, there are children in homes that are unsafe. Children being neglected, abused etc… There’s always a place for adoption. There are couples and singles not able to have children on their own and adoption can give them that.

I was adopted at age 9. Until that time I was in a very abusive, neglected home. I watched my biological dad drag my mother down the stairs and rape her, meaning she would have more and more children. He was controlling and abusive. I have 11 siblings because of that. One day he decided to leave and my mother had no choice but to put us up for adoption. There was no way she could raise and support 12 children on her own. It was the hardest decision of her life but because my biological dad wouldn’t let her have a job and took the little money they did have it was impossible for her to keep all of us.

I was the 5th youngest of the 12. My 4 younger siblings and I were adopted to one family. We grew up healthy and happy and are fulfilling life. When I turned 18, I got in contact with my bio mom and there rest of my siblings and I have a relationship with all of them besides my bio dad. My adopted parents saved our lives and gave us the childhood we deserved. They are what I consider my parents and my bio mom is more so like an aunt to me. Adoption holds a purpose. I couldn’t imagine where I would be if I wasn’t adopted.

I support adoption because if that person is too young or unfit then that child has a bad chance of a future. I pray that people who are unable do give their child to someone who can’t have children but want children and can take care of them. My mom was 15 years old when she had me and she kept me. It was a horrible horrible life until I was taken into foster care at 12 and adopted at 14. So I do understand the whole “well you had the child, you are responsible for the child.” But please be responsible and choose to give that child a life they would never have a chance at with someone unfit to parent.

And I’m not saying young mothers are bad at all before anyone misunderstands – just a lot of extremely young parents don’t want their childhood to end and end up doing what mine did.

At the age of 28 I found myself in a toxic, yet monogamous relationship, and pregnant. I also had been taking some prescription medications for an auto immune disorder as well as a birth control pill. In the beginning stages of my pregnancy I was told that due to the exposure to these meds I was having a miscarriage, to go back to the Dr and hear a healthy heartbeat was honestly terrifying. Because my relationship was so toxic I actually felt like a miscarriage was the best possible outcome. So after a few weeks of fog and trying to figure out what I needed to do I finally worked up the courage to call a really good friend of mine, Allison.

She and her husband found out about a year before that they couldn’t get pregnant and had been involved with an adoption agency. They had 3 leads before me but at the end of those pregnancies each mama decided adoption was not their option. This was heartbreaking for my friends. They had decided that seeking out a baby was too difficult and they would instead go to a foster organization and adopt from there! Literally a few days later, I called them. I explained all of the potential risks of carrying my baby to term- because of the exposure. I explained that this was not good timing for me and I knew that I could not provide the life I wanted to provide to this baby, mostly due to my toxic relationship, but there were other contributing factors.

I asked Allison if she and her husband would be interested in raising my baby. Without a moments hesitation Allison said yes. She said that if this is what I wanted, she would raise and love my baby like her very own. And so we were set, she flew to Nebraska that weekend, we made a plan and then we waited. I visited my high risk doctor often, and finally at my 30wk appointment the Dr turned to me and says, the baby is very small. She is not getting all of the nutrients from the placenta that she needs, roughly only 50%. This was caused by the exposure to the medication in the first 6 weeks of gestation. The baby needed to come out, into the world, now!

I immediately got on the phone, oddly enough Allison’s phone was in the middle of a system update and I could not reach her for the first time… Ever. So I called my soon to be child’s new sweet sweet father, I explained that the baby was coming! After a very sweet reaction, he told me he would get in contact with Allison and they would be in touch with a plan. I was admitted to the hospital where I stayed pregnant for 2 more days, so that I could receive steroids and other meds to prepare baby for the outside world.

On Wednesday October 24th,via c-section I delivered a beautiful 2lb 6oz baby girl named Charlotte. She came out perfect, she needed no assistance to live or breath, she was doing everything on her own! 5 days later, her birth father and I signed the relinquishment papers for her new parents to be able to adopt her. We have a very very open adoption. Charlotte is now 3.5. She knows with a firm understanding that she was so lucky that she got 2 mama’s! She knows that I am her first mama and that I chose her mama and daddy to be her parents!

When Charlotte and her family are in Nebraska, which is roughly every 3rd month, I am just as welcome as any other family member they have! Char and I have an unbreakable bond and she tells me that she loves me and often times reminds me that I am her first mama! The bond that we have will be eternal. Fortunately I was able to escape the relationship with her birth father. We have not spoken for 2.5 years and he has only seen Charlotte maybe thrice, twice at the hospital and once time when she was about 6 months old. He has no contact but if he desired he would be welcome in her life- with boundaries of course!

I wholeheartedly want to adopt a child. But, my husband can’t get behind the idea. He’s afraid of “nature vs nurture” and thinks there is a chance the child may have behavioral issues. (Although I personally think that can happen anytime, anywhere.) I personally would be absolutely heartbroken if I adopted a child and then they had the drive to seek out their biological mother/father. The way I look at it is, IM your mother, NOT the women who gave birth to you. I wouldn’t want my child out searching for someone who gave them up.

My mom always had a huge heart for adoption and growing up I shared that with her. I was the only girl in our family for a while with three brothers and my mom and I kept bugging my dad to adopt and when it finally worked out for our family we decided to adopt my sister from China. It really made our family feel complete . So ever since I was a little girl I have wanted to adopt as well. I would like to adopt a child somewhere between the ages of 5-10 rather than an infant. My sister was a baby when we got her but my mom told me about all the older children she met while there and how much they wanted a home and how some may never get the chance for one. I’m thinking of Haiti…

I was adopted at birth because my bio mom was too young and alone to care for me. I am eternally grateful to her for the strength it took to give me up to a family who couldn’t have their own kids but could give me a better life. I hope to be able to adopt someday.

I’m considering strongly adoption. I have a 14 month old daughter already and it was a tough time getting established with her I really did it alone and I can’t see myself doing that again when I can give someone who can’t have one the chance to enjoy life my concern is my family keep trying to change my mind when they didn’t help with my daughter.

I was raised for 11 years by my biological family and that was bad… then I was placed in foster care at 11 and adopted at 13… it was great until I was raped by my foster brother at 15 and became pregnant at 15 gave birth to my baby girl. I choose an open adoption.. so this way if she had questions she could ask me and I chose her family to know she would always be taken care of far better then I was as a child.

I had bad things happen to me both not being adopted and being adopted but these things happen for reasons to shape you and mold you into the person you are.

I was adopted. I have mixed feelings about adoptions. One hand I wish I wasn’t adopted because the people that adopted me just wanted the money that came with me until I turned 18. They basically adopted me then shipped me off to other people to care for me until they got tired of me and off I went to someone else. On the other hand if I wasn’t adopted I would have stayed in the foster system and I wonder how my life would have turned out. But I do know when I get older I do want to adopt and give a child the life I never had when I was adopted.

Were you adopted or want to adopt a child? Share your story in the comments below❤️