[ChromaKelly]

I told our homestudy SW about a situation that we submitted our profile for, the e-mom will be traveling from one state to another for the birth. He told me to be careful about those, that it's possible the adoption could fall through if she hasn't been a resident of the state long enough. She's not traveling to our state to avoid ICPC, I know that is not allowed. I didn't really think much of why she was traveling, so I inquired and the referral service we are dealing with said the e-mom will be staying in a place where she can receive counseling, and she didn't want her family around her, putting pressure on her. OK, sounds fair enough I guess.

I do see situations often where the e-mom travels to the state where the agency is. Is there anything unethical about this?

[SchmennaLeigh]

Depends. Is she staying at agency based housing? If so then the coercion level is quite often astronomically high. The "counseling" is often provided by the agency and thus is biased in the fact that they want the placement to go through.

Is she simply staying with friends?

While some families do need to be avoided during things like this, I am always hesitant to see mothers completely cut off from their normal support system. This was a tactic used by unethical maternity homes in the past. Some still use it and it is downright scary.

If this is the expectant mother's sole choosing and not at the prodding of the agency ... and the agency isn't paying for her housing or providing her with biased counseling ... it could be on the up and up. I hope that the counseling she receives will be thorough.